Sharing the same birthday as 8-month-old daughter Satyana is just “fantastic!” exclaims Alyson Hannigan, star of the hit comedy show, How I Met Your Mother. Alyson gave birth this past year on her 35th birthday and says jokingly, “I’d rather it be on my birthday than sort of near it, because then somebody would get jipped—and it would obviously be me. This way, I get to have some of her cake!”

As Satyana slowly approaches her first birthday, Alyson notes, “There’s so much that happens the first year. I could watch her all day long, just to see her discovering new things.” While many moms in showbiz are conflicted with leaving their new baby at home, Alyson reveals that Satyana gets to come to work with her almost every day—except Mondays, since she only works for one hour. “They’ve set up a nursery at work, so I get to go in and feed her, nurse her and change her diaper.” Noting that she’s “blessed” to be with the people she works with, she admits, “I just don’t know how I could be away from her for that long. Especially during the first year, there’s so much that goes on in a day.”

With a “pretty consistent” but busy work schedule, Alyson agrees that the transition to motherhood was rough, but certainly worth it. “It’s just the most rewarding aspect of my life so far,” she states. “All the clichés are so true. I just love her so much.” As of now, “time is the biggest challenge,” according to Alyson. While juggling between an acting career and taking care of a baby, a major struggle has been managing time, since “the things that used to take an hour—like getting ready for work— now take two hours.” Not that Alyson hasn’t gotten the hang of it: “Even when I’m right on schedule, she’ll spit up and I have to start all over again,” she says. But Alyson isn’t one to fret about minor mishaps. In fact, this laid-back mom enjoys spending time with Satyana, “just sitting back, slowing down and going into her zone.” For Alyson, “the most joy is when I can just be on the floor with her and watch her play with one of her toys, or discover how to put her toes in her mouth—something very baby-like.” In between the hectic hours come these moments where the phone is turned off, and all her attention is diverted to the baby. “I’m so fascinated by her,” she gushes. Husband Alexis Denisof is also hands-on as a parent, Alyson happily shares, but with one confession: “The hardest thing is the nighttime diaper change. It’s like, ‘Could we take turns?’” She adds that mornings are also not so easy to get by—especially with late night production schedules. “When we were doing the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother, we were working really long, late hours, which is brutal with the 6am wake-up,” she says, suddenly recalling that “because of daylight savings, it then turned into a 5am wake-up!” In addition to her TV show commitment, Alyson has been a holiday spokesperson for MasterCard Priceless Gift Finder, an online search database. She notes that “Being a busy mom, shopping has kind of gone out the window now. So I see online shopping as a great gift to moms.”  Alyson describes Satyana as being a “really happy, sweet baby” with a bit of her mom’s humor instilled in her. “She plays jokes on me when I try to put her to bed.” Alyson recounts, “This one time, I told her that ‘it’s time for bed’ and she has to go to sleep. She put her head down when I said the word ‘sleep’ and as soon as I got to the door, she would prop herself up and start laughing. She did this at least 12 times!”