Ana Ortiz's Pretty Baby

Paloma Louise Lebenzon

BORN

June 27, 2009

WEIGHT

7 lbs. 10 oz.

For Ana Ortiz, learning new lines hasn’t been easy since becoming a first-time mom to daughter Paloma Louise Lebenzon eight weeks ago. “I called the pediatrician the other day and said, ‘My daughter is a patient here.’ That was the first time I said ‘my daughter,’ and I started giggling and couldn’t stop,” Ortiz recalls. “It’s totally surreal to think and say that she’s my daughter.”

Best known as America Ferrera’s vivacious older sister Hilda Suarez on ABC’s Ugly Betty, the 38-year-old Ortiz and her musician husband, Noah Lebenzon, 39, are now enjoying a low-key life with Paloma, a “very calm and super-mellow” baby (her name means “dove” in Spanish). “I have really turned into a mush ball over her,” says Ortiz, who has settled into a routine of breast-feeding every two hours. “She’s a big eater,” Mom boasts. “She gets that from me.”

Now even the smallest moments are nothing short of miraculous. “Giving the baby a bath is hilarious,” Ortiz says. “She’s like, ‘This is groovy,’ and starts splashing around. It’s incredible!” Her relationship with Lebenzon, whom she wed in 2007, has only gotten better too. “I feel like we are connected on a different level now,” says Lebenzon. “I love Ana even more than I did before, that’s for sure.”

Returning to the Betty set just 2½ weeks after giving birth was daunting for Ortiz, given her character’s skimpy, skintight outfits. “I was like, ‘Where are the Spanx? Get me the Spanx!'” she says with a laugh. But the blissful baby back home is worth any wardrobe malfunctions. “Holding her is heaven,” Ortiz sighs. “When I’m with her, I forget everything else.”