Poppy Montgomery was always open about the 70-pound weight gain that occurred during her pregnancy last year with son Jackson Phillip Deveraux, now 10 ½ months old. “I ate with no guilt!” the Without a Trace star tells PEOPLE. “I loved every second of gaining that weight. All that food made me so happy!”

Though giving in to cravings for avocados or Häagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream was fun, Poppy, 36, knew that she’d have to return to camera-ready form eventually. So three weeks after giving birth to Jackson, the actress signed up for meal-delivery service Sunfare, which restricted her diet to 1,200 calories per day. She exercised at home six days per week using the P90X total-body workout DVD program, and by this past September, she was back in her size 27 jeans. “All the hard work paid off,” she shares. “It was hard, but worth it.”

Jackson, whom Poppy describes as the “happiest baby ever” is the first child for the actress and her boyfriend, actor Adam Kaufman. Poppy’s show, Without a Trace, airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. on CBS.

Source: Celebrity-babies.com

Can we expect anything of substance regarding the rest of the Without a Trace cast beyond the Jack and Samantha storyline?

Boy, do I have good news for you, Jen. An upcoming episode will deal head-on with Danny and Elena taking their relationship public. Martin, too, will find love, but not without its complications. Marianne Jean Baptiste, who plays Vivian, will direct an episode.

Becoming a mother has completely changed Poppy Montgomery’s priorities, says the Without a Trace star.

“What’s really good is everything that seemed important before, like having a bad hair day, doesn’t seem important anymore,” says the actress, who gave birth to her son Jackson last December. “Oh my God, I’m just in love with [my son].”

Of course, love means never having to say “enough” to an infant – something her boyfriend, and sometime Without a Trace guest star, Adam Kaufman, 34, is great at.

“[Adam] is so hands-on and patient,” says Montgomery, 36. “You have to be with kids, you can’t get frustrated because they want to do something 55 times. You think it’s funny once; they think it’s funny 100 times. [Adam]’s really great that way.”

As for whether the couple will wed anytime soon, the actress says, “As long as we’re healthy and solid and together, I’d have the party, why not? You know, go to Cabo. That would be awesome.”

CBS’ Without a Trace is currently in its seventh season, with the next new episode airing on October 14. Entitled “Last Call,” the episode will follow the team as they investigate the case of a missing white-collar criminal who suddenly disappears on his way to testify against a former associate.

Created by Hank Steinberg and executively produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Without a Trace stars Anthony LaPaglia as Jack Malone, Poppy Montgomery as Samantha Spade, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Vivian Johnson, Enrique Murciano as Danny Taylor, Eric Close as Martin Fitzgerald and Roselyn Sanchez as Elena Delgado.

Meanwhile, the stars of Without a Trace have been working on their individual projects, with Anthony LaPaglia working on the film Balibo. Recently, reports surfaced that the 49-year-old actor was hurt in an accident when an explosive device designed to simulate a gunshot discharged into his arm. The accident took place in July, while they were shooting the scene of LaPaglia’s Roger East. Nonetheless, producer John Maynard assures the public that there were no major injuries for LaPaglia, who was medicated before shooting resumed.

Poppy Montgomery, who plays Samantha Spade in Without a Trace, recently gave birth to her first baby boy.

“It’s been amazing,” the 36-year-old Australian actress said on The Early Show. “I’m in love with my baby boy! He is 8 months old already and it’s gone so quickly.”

In talking about her character, she says that she can now relate to Samantha being a mother while juggling a career. She says, “Samantha Spade has a one-night stand and she gets pregnant.”

Her real-life boyfriend and father of her son, actor Adam Kaufman was on hand to play Samantha’s love interest. She recalled, “[Adam] came in and played the baby-daddy, which is great. I’m not sure if he is coming back or not. They had a little falling out at the end of last season and he disappeared but we’re waiting to see.”

As for her character, Montgomery says, “It’s really cool. Now that Samantha is a new mother, she is tougher and I keep beating people up and shooting people and chasing them down streets…It’s a lot of fun. I’ve been working with these tiny little babies. Reminds me of when Jackson was so small. On the set, you get to meet my baby. And it’s cool.”

Catch Without a Trace’s new episode on October 14 at 10pm on CBS.

Source: BuddyTV

Caps and clips for the last episode 7×02 22×42 have been added.