Kayla Ewell and Husband Tanner Novlan Expecting Baby Boy: 'We're Excited'

Kayla Ewell is expanding her family!

The actress, 36, is pregnant, expecting her second baby, a boy, with husband Tanner Novlan, she tells PEOPLE exclusively. The pair will welcome their son in August.

Ewell tells PEOPLE she was "already a month and a half pregnant" when she found out about her baby on the way around Thanksgiving.

The Vampire Diaries star and Novlan are already parents to 2½-year-old daughter Poppy and Ewell says the couple feels "lucky" to be able to experience both a son and a daughter. "I really wanted to be a boy mom. I'm excited to meet him. It'll be fun," she says.

As for Poppy, the actress says she can't wait to be a big sister — and is letting everyone know it.

"She tells everyone on the street, even dogs on the street that she's a big sister, and she's really excited about it," adds Ewell.

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The soon-to-be mom of two also expresses her excitement to be able to raise her son in a "somewhat 'normal' way" as Poppy was only "six months when the pandemic hit."

"We have a little bit more of a semblance of what life will be like," Ewell says. "So in a way, even though it's our second baby, it'll be our first time experiencing it in a somewhat 'normal' way. As normal as we are right now, which is not normal."

With their son on the way, Ewell says Poppy will be moving to a "more grown-up room" and that the couple has already completed a redesign of the nursery for their baby boy.

"It's this out of Africa vibe, where there's a lot of wicker and cute little African animals," she explains. "It's very safari, but not extremely themed, but it's just really, really fun and clean and easy and bright, lots of trees. We've got this beautiful big bay leaf tree with lots of light."

"I am a firm believer in letting [the kids] make the room their own," she adds. "So what we did with Poppy, which I know we'll do with the second one is, all the artwork that they bring in, both of their rooms have these giant closet doors that are just plain white, but we end up sticking all their artwork up on there."

"So it adds color and life to the room," Ewell says. "And it lets them really, truly feel like this is their space to create. Poppy loved it. So I have a feeling that this next little one will too."