After the tragic and heartbreaking loss of his infant son last month, Nick Cannon says he’s happy to “finally” share some happy news—he’s expecting his eighth child later this year.

On his talk show on Monday, he confirmed that he and model Bre Tiesi are expecting a son. This will be Cannon’s first child with Tiesi (and her first baby, too), and Cannon’s eighth. He’s already dad to 10-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe that he shares with ex-wife Mariah Carey, as well as a 4-year-old son named Golden and a one-year-old daughter named Powerful Queen with Brittany Bell, seven-month-old twins Zion and Zillion with Abby De La Rosa, and son Zen, whom he shared with Alyssa Scott. Zen passed away on Dec. 5 at just five months old due to brain cancer.

After sharing the news that baby number eight will soon join his older brothers and sisters, Cannon acknowledged that he gets criticized for having “so many kids.” But when he talks about being a father, it’s clear that his kids make him happier than anything else.

“As everyone knows I have a lot of children and I love them all dearly, sincerely,” Cannon told the audience. “Every single one of my children are just as special as the other.”

He also talked about announcing the news that he’s expecting another baby so soon after losing his sweet son, Zen. Cannon says he knew Tiesi was pregnant before his son’s death and wanted to take care when sharing the news publicly.

“I wanted to definitely respect the grieving process with Alyssa, and Bre was respectful enough—she held off making our announcements and speaking on social media,” Cannon says. “She’s a very, you know, in the public eye type of person, but keeps her stuff private as well.”

That doesn’t mean sharing the happy news was easy—because when an unexpected and tragic loss happens, and life still goes on, of course you’re going to feel a million conflicting feelings during the grieving process.

“And it was just one of those things like, you know, I didn’t know what to do,” he explains. “I didn’t know what to say when I was dealing with Zen or to hold off. Even right now, that it came out yesterday, that wasn’t planned to talk about it. We wanted to, you know, hold on as long as we can, but it happened. We’re here and I’m with my family I get to discuss it, I get to be open.”

Last month, Cannon told PEOPLE that despite the negative comments and jokes he receives for his “nonconventional” family, he’s dedicated to prioritizing all of his children.

“I’m a father, first and foremost,” he said at the time. “There’s a lot of guilt that I feel and I talk about this in therapy all the time. It’s rooted in not having enough time to spend with my loved ones, specifically my children, because I have a lot of children. I’m also spread so thin in my work because that’s how I cope.”

He says he can generate money to provide for his family, but one thing he can’t generate is time.

“It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality,” he said. “And it’s really just having quality moments with my children, quality moments with my family. Had a lot of quality moments with Zen in his short time here. I always say time is a manmade thing, but love and energy is a godsend.”