Melissa Rycroft and husband Tye Strickland having a baby boy

Melissa Rycroft has revealed she's expecting a baby boy with husband Tye Strickland.


"When I found out [I was having a] boy, I just got really excited! And Tye, he's such a guy's guy, so personally, I'm really happy he gets to do all his boy stuff," Rycroft, who also has a two-year-old daughter Ava Grace with Strickland, told Us Weekly.

"It's so funny the first thing out of [Tye's] mouth was, 'I feel so much responsibility now!' I was like, 'Um have you not felt it the past two and a half years?' I guess there's something to be said about the same sex parent taking the bulk of [responsibility]."

The former The Bachelor bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars contestant, who is currently 17 weeks along in her pregnancy, said she gets to do all the fun girly things with Ava.

"I've been the one who's been teaching Ava the basics. We do our dance stuff together and ballet, and I teach her how to do her hair and matching clothes," Rycroft explained. "Now it's kind of his turn to teach somebody how to throw and catch a ball and go outside and find worms."


Rycroft, 30, recently shared the news of the baby's gender with her parents and in-laws during a small get together in which Ava ate a cupcake revealing blue frosting inside.

"I haven't started the nursery or anything yet," Rycroft told Us. "Tye and I have been tossing names back and forth and it'll probably be a process."

Rycroft said she wasn't sure if she'd ever want to have a third child because the beginning of her second pregnancy was tough, however, once she started feeling better, she warmed up to the idea of expanding her family even more one day.

"I told Tye [at first], 'We're done, I'm never doing this again!' But now I feel better and we're on this high and the excitement of just finding out what the sex is," she explained. "We talk about if we had a third it wouldn't matter if it's a boy or girl because we have one of each. So never say never! We always said three was our number, and we may stop at two -- or we may keep going!"

Rycroft and Strickland got engaged in June 2009 and wed in December of that same year. Rycroft gave birth to Ava in February 2011 and announced she is expecting her second baby late last month.


Reality viewers were first exposed to Rycroft when she appeared on the first two seasons of CMT's Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. She then went on to compete as one of the bachelorettes vying for Jason Mesnick's heart on The Bachelor's thirteenth season, which was filmed in late 2008 and aired in early 2009.

She got engaged to Mesnick during the taping of The Bachelor's final Rose Ceremony -- but he later dumped her on-air in favor of runner-up (and eventual wife) Molly Malaney during the January 2009 taping of the season's After the Final Rose special.

However, Rycroft quickly entered into a new relationship of her own and reunited with Strickland, her former boyfriend whom she had previously dated on and off after meeting three years earlier, and the couple subsequently wed by the end of 2009.

After her rejection by Mesnick, Rycroft also accepted an offer to join Dancing with the Stars' Spring 2009 edition as a last-minute replacement for injured Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell. She eventually finished third behind Gilles Marini and eventual champ Shawn Johnson.

Rycroft went on to work as a correspondent for Good Morning America, contribute to ABC's 2010 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest broadcast, and also serve as a special Entertainment Tonight correspondent. In addition, she served as the co-host of Bachelor Pad's first season, which aired in 2010.


Rycroft returned to Dancing with the Stars to compete on the show's fifteenth season dubbed Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars in 2012. She was crowned the winner with professional partner Tony Dovolani after competing against memorable veteran celebrity dancers.

Rycroft and Strickland also starred in Melissa and Tye: A New Reality together in 2012, however, the reality show was canceled by CMT after only one season.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski