Like her husband, Parker has an easy, relaxed manner around children. "She's always loved kids, and kids react," her oldest brother, Pippin Parker, 42, said shortly after the couple went public with their pregnancy. "She'll be down on all fours, rolling around the floor with her kid, for sure. She'll be endlessly entertained by and entertaining to her baby."

Since the July wrap of both Sex and The Music Man, Parker and Broderick have kicked back a bit career-wise and turned their attentions to preparing for the baby's arrival. That month they packed up their Greenwich Village townhouse and moved to their new brownstone in another part of the area. Over the summer the two hard-core New Yorkers (Broderick's a native; Parker moved to the area from Ohio at age 9) also enjoyed their Hamptons home. Clad in her standard pregnancy attire -- a tiny T-shirt and hot pants or sweatpants -- Parker cycled around town with Broderick. At a local supermarket they shopped side by side. "They were very down to earth," says clerk Elaine Spinelli. "They don't have any celebrity attitude, unlike some stars who come in here looking to hide under their hats." After Sex costar Kristin Davis stopped by (leaving behind an orange-and-yellow sundress for Parker), the couple visited Calypso, a shop in nearby East Hampton, to swap the dress for its purple-and-pink tie-dyed twin. Spotting actress Ellen Barkin, they settled into chairs and schmoozed with her for 20 minutes.

The days of leisurely chats have now ended. Baby is officially on board -- and the family is ready. "We already have a lot of stuff," says Broderick. The shiny new clutter includes a $2,100 Silver Stream baby carriage, which caught Parker's eye during a Sex shoot. "She fell in love with it and said, 'I want it,' " says a Silver Cross rep. Parker was sent her very own black buggy in June, courtesy of the 125-year-old British company, which once upon a time provided Prince Charles's stroller. Two months later a $699 Dutch-produced Bugaboo Frog Stroller was used in another Sex episode. The same story: After Parker expressed interest, the company, which does not yet retail through stores, made her a gift of a shiny new black stroller.