ALEC BALDWIN and his wife Hilaria had extra reason to celebrate at Christmas (12) - they discovered they were to become parents two days before the holiday.

The newlyweds confirmed they were expecting in February (13) and yoga teacher Hilaria admits they were pleasantly surprised by the baby news.

She says, "It was something that we both wanted; I don't want to say it was a surprise and we didn't want it. We were very excited when we found out, but we just got married in June and we found out two days before Christmas so it was a really nice Christmas present."

The parents-to-be will discover the sex of the child in the coming weeks and the 30 Rock actor has already selected a strong Italian name for the tot if they have a boy.

She adds, "I think it's a boy... (In) a few weeks time we'll find out (the sex)...

"We have a different (name) idea almost every single day, which I think is natural so early on. He had the idea for Massimo the other day and it's a lovely name, I just don't know... It's a very big name for a very little baby... I think you actually have to look at it and say, 'Who are you? What is your name?'"

The child will be Hilaria's first and Baldwin's second - he already has a teenage daughter, Ireland, from his previous marriage to actress Kim Basinger.