Here we go again!

I have started this blog with the idea that my friends and family can read how Dave, Mallina, and I are doing, since I have the tendency to not call anyone back. I really do mean to keep in touch, it's just that I don't like talking on the phone......So the blog seemed like the answer. Let me start by catching everyone up to now. We found out that we were pregnant just before Thanksgiving of '04. To say the least we were very excited; we had been "trying" for almost 2 yrs. and we had come to the conclusion that I couldn't get pregnant. (big misconception) Malina Fay Howard was born on June 7, 2005 with not too much hassle. Not trying to brag or anything but, I was only in labor for 16 hrs., everything went very smoothly, and I considered the labor to be pretty easy. Malina was a tiny 6 lbs. 8 oz. (at full term) and didn't really seem to gain a lot of weight for the first couple of months. When Malina was 3 months old we started supplementing her with formula and she gained weight very rapidly. She went from being in the 15th percentile for weight when we started the supplementation to, now at 6 mo., she is in the 85th percentile and a whopping 18 lbs. Malina got her first tooth when she was 2 mo. old and another tooth came in at 3 mo. She hasn't since got any more but, we'll see. She sleeps through the night and came sit up almost on her own. She doesn't crawl yet either but can still manage to move herself around in 360 degree circles. She is a very happy baby and likes to go visiting friends and relatives; she is definitely a "people person". The only time she really gets fussy is if we haven't gone somewhere all day and she is bored of looking at just me.

Now it seems our family has been blessed again; just before Thanksgiving of this year (deja vu) we found out that I was pregnant again. (So much for that theory that I couldn't get pregnant) Malina, only 5 mo. old when I got pregnant, will be just a little bit over a year when "baby lo" as we refer to it, will be born. When we started telling family and friends about our little news, everyone was shocked, and I thought the first question they would ask would be "was the baby planned ?" But that question was never asked, not once. Well, it seems that when you have children that close together it is not your life planning that people question but your sanity. Most people remarked "are you crazy ?" or "I'm sory." As if this was the worse thing that has ever happened to us and our lives are ruined. But that is not the case at all. If anything, are lives are more enriched. (get ready for a cliche moment) No one told me that just looking at my baby would make me love her more deeply and profoundly than I have ever loved anyone before; most people don't get to experience love like that once in their lives, let alone twice. So no the baby wasn't unplanned but that doesn't mean it is unwanted. I am very excited to be a mommy for the second time.

Dave on the other hand, took a little while to come around. While my thoughts focused on how much love I had to give this little one, Dave's only thought was how little money we had to support this baby. I'm not exactly sure how he came to this conclusion since I am the one who handles all of our bills and finances (Dave doesn't even know how much are bills are each month) and I figured we would be just fine. But he was stressed and started working more overtime than he did already. Slowly but surely he has calmed down, working normal hours again. And I knew he had started to see things from my point of view when, just the other day he said "hey you know, we might get a boy this time."