Dempsey, who met wife Jillian in 1994 when he turned up at her L.A. salon for a haircut, gifted her with diamond studs after the birth of their sons. "She's never been more beautiful to me than she is now," Dempsey (here at last year's Emmy Awards) says of his wife during her pregnancy. Photo by: Laura Rauch / AP
Daddy's Boys| Birth, Patrick Dempsey
Not only is their big sister Talula "very excited and very good about taking care of her brothers," says Dempsey, but she's also the one who designated their names. "We had the names picked and then Talula helped us determine who was who." (Significance of the names? Just "names we liked," he says.) Since the boys' arrival, father and daughter have been bonding by bicycling together and watching movies like The Sound of Music and the Japanese anime film Howl's Moving Castle. As the dad of a 5- year-old, "I'm learning. Some days you feel like you're being a good parent, and some days you feel like you're being a bad parent," he admits. "I'm trying to be a consistent parent."

So is the family set with three? "I think we're done now," says Dempsey. Looking ahead, the racing enthusiast – he has raced professionally and is co-owner of a team in the Indy Racing League – is already revved up about bringing the kids to the track. Racing "is such a family sport, and it's nice to have boys now, and a girl – there are certainly a lot of female drivers, and there could be another one!" he says. "But it's up to them. I'm not going to force them."

For now, Dempsey continues to focus on his work with Breakaway from Cancer and on carving family time into his busy schedule: During his Grey's hiatus this spring he'll shoot the romantic comedy Made of Honor, and he will costar in the children's fable Enchanted, due this fall. ("It's the movie I did for my daughter.") But mostly he's just counting his blessings. "My mom has her health, and I have this great family and a great wife and my career is in a great place right now," he says. "I'm very thankful."

• By Lisa Ingrassia in San Francisco