"But then there are other days when it just seems the most natural thing," Hearst muses. "He cries, I talk to him and he calms, and it just seems like I always knew how to do this. It's amazing.

"I love to watch him play around with different expressions, discover what his hands are for, how quickly he can smack himself in the head," Hearst laughs. "I want to make sure I don't ignore any moments in his life, because before I know it, they will be gone and we won't be able to get them back. I didn't want that to happen with Nicky the way it happened with me and my father. We had a lot of time slip past us. I want to make sure my kid's got my full, undivided attention and every bit of love and support, so that whatever he wants to do, he can do."

Fast on the heels of Nicky's birth (actually less than 24 hours later) came another monumental event -- a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actor. Hearst admits this one-two punch threw him for a loop. "I was really ready to explode," he admits. "If I had let it all go [at the Emmy ceremony], I would have been a sobbing mess up there. It was a very triumphant feeling when I won, but I was numb, completely numb. So many things had happened, so many changes that had really set me on my ear. When that much stuff is coming at you, be it good or bad, you don't know how to deal with it.

"Success, a lot of times, is just as hard to take [as failure], it really is. After I got off the stage I realized I had forgotten to thank God," he continues. "I've definitely had a charmed life. All I could say when people congratulated me on both counts was, 'Thank you. I can't ask for anything more. I think I'm going to die tomorrow.' Somebody asked me how I felt, and I said, 'Hey, I've got nothing to complain about and everything to be thankful for."