Chapter 43

Penny's first months of pregnancy was very different from when she had William. She still had morning sickness but not as intense as her first pregnancy. She was also not as tired or sleepy now as compared to when she had William but the only thing that remained was her weird food cravings — sardines and ice cream, unripe mangoes with fish paste which Leonard and William find gross, dried fish, pickled fish, smoked fish and almost everything related to sea food.

Like before, she would throw tantrums at her husband which Leonard already learned how to deal with when she was pregnant with their son. Penny would sometimes wake him up in the middle of the night asking him to but her favorite food or drink or basically anything she feels like eating. Leonard would then hurry in getting the food only for him and William to end up eating it with Penny looking at them, satisfied in seeing her two boys eating her food.

The only thing that Leonard loved about her pregnant wife was her heightened sex drive which tested him to the limit. They both enjoyed having sex even before Penny got pregnant but now that her hormones are out of balance, Penny can't seem to get enough of her husband, even getting to the paint where Leonard would resort to 'other methods' in order to satisfy her urges. Penny didn't mind these alternative techniques knowing that they understood each other well enough to know one's wants and desires. Penny was thankful when Leonard confessed to her that these new ways of having sex has somehow deepen their bond and understanding.

One morning, she came from the bathroom after throwing up, wiping her mouth with a small towel when she saw William standing by the door, visibly worried about his mother.

"Mommy are you alright?" asked William.

Penny knelt down and hugged her son. "I'm okay now sweetheart. Don't worry." she said.

"Daddy did this to you." he said.

"What? No!" she said. "Your daddy and I decided to have another baby so you would have someone to play with. Aren't you excited to have a baby brother or a baby sister?" Penny said.

"I guess." said the child with a sad face.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" asked Penny.

"When the baby comes, you will not love me anymore." said William with a sad face.

Penny was saddened with what her son said. "Oh sweetheart, don't think like that. Your dad and I would always love you even if we have a new baby." she said while hugging William. "What made you think that your dad and I won't love you?" she asked.

William hung his head. "I don't know. I just figured that you and dad would take care of the baby more than me since it will be small and would cry a lot." he said.

"Of course we would take care of the new baby." she said. "But that doesn't mean that we're gonna ignore you." Penny added as Leonard joined them.

"What happened?" asked Leonard.

Penny sighed. "Your son thinks that when the baby arrives, we would not love him anymore and would ignore him to focus on the baby." she said.

Leonard smiled at William. "Listen son, your mom and I love you so much. We would never ignore you even when the baby comes." he said to the young man. "Tell you what, maybe you could help me and your mom in taking care of the baby? Your mom would definitely like that." he added.

"But I don't know how." said William.

The couple smiled. "Don't worry sweetie, we'll teach you." said Penny.

"Okay mommy." said William.

Penny hugged and kissed her son. "I love you so much sweetheart." she said.

"I love you too mommy." William said.

"Okay, let's go to the living room so your mommy can rest on the couch." said Leonard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was Penny's fourth month of pregnancy...

"Why is Larry inviting us for brunch again?" Penny asked as she helped her son get dressed.

"Well, his wife Janet kinda suggested it since we have a new baby on the way." said Leonard.

"Okay, I guess it would be nice to get out of the house from time to time." she said before turning back to William. "Are you ready sweetie?" she asked.

"Yes mommy." said William as they went out of the bedroom.

After half an hour, the young family arrived at Larry's home, welcomed by him and his wife Janet along with their daughters Jamie whose now turning thirteen and Justine who just turned seven.

"Hi guys, come in Penny!" Janet said. "Kids why don't you say hello to your aunt Penny and uncle Leonard?" she added.

"Hi aunt Penny!" Jamie and Justine said.

"Hi girls!" Penny said, lightly touching the girl's cheek before turning to her son. "Sweetie, aren't you gonna say hello?" she said.

"Hi uncle Larry, aunt Janet. Hi Jamie, hi Justine!" said William.

"Thanks for inviting us over." said Leonard while shaking Larry's hand.

"Hey don't mention it. We should do this more often since you and Penny are having another child." said Larry as they went to the dining table to start eating.

"How are you feeling Penny?" asked Janet.

"Nothing much really. This one's a lot different when I had William." said Penny as they take their seats.

"You're not getting any morning sickness?" asked Janet as they begin putting food on their plates to eat.

"l'm still getting it but not as intense as before." Penny said.

"Are you having a girl aunt Penny?" asked Jamie.

"It's too early to tell. We'll probably find out the next time I have my checkup." she said.

"Do you want a girl aunt Penny?" asked Justine.

Penny smiled. "That's what we're hoping for. But either way, we just want the baby to be healthy. Right sweetie?" she said then turning to her son.

William nodded. "Uh huh. My mom needs to avoid getting mad or stressed, or else the baby would get hurt." he said making Larry and Janet laugh.

"That's right Will, babies who are still inside their mother's belly can feel and hear things outside, you know like music, their parent's voice. And they can feel when their mommy is sad or angry." said Larry.

"Is that true daddy?" William asked.

"That's true buddy. The baby maybe inside your mom's belly but it's ears and skin are already developed to get a sense of what's going on outside." said Leonard.

"That is so cool!" William said.

"Do you already have a name for the baby aunt Penny?" asked Justine.

"'We haven't decided yet. I mean, we made a list when I was pregnant with William so I guess we'll do the same with this one." said Penny.

"Well, what girl names did you come up with before?" asked Janet. "Maybe you could use those?" she added.

Penny thought for a while. "Hmm, let me see, there's Rachel, and Monica, and Phoebe, what else...?" she said.

"Are those from FRIENDS?" asked Janet.

"I told you." Leonard said to his wife as the others laughed. Leonard took out his phone and scrolled through it. "I actually took a picture of our name list...there's Claire, Chloe, there's Avery, and Aubrey, Sarah and Samantha..." said Leonard

"Those are very nice names uncle Leonard." said Jamie.

"Aubrey sounds nice." Justine chimed in.

"What about Chloe Hofstadter? That has a nice ring to it?" answered Jamie.

"Okay girls, I think you need to slow down, your aunt Penny and uncle Leonard doesn't know if they're having a boy or a girl so let's not push them okay?" said Janet.

"Fine mom." said Justine before turning to William. "Hey Will, if it's a girl what would you name her?" she asked the young boy.

"I like Sarah. It sounds simple." said William.

Penny smiled at her son and touched his cheek. "I like it too sweetie." she said as they continued to eat while exchanging stories.

After brunch, Larry and Janet invited them into the front yard to have some tea and fruit juice to cool them off under the shade of the tree when they were all surprised to see Buster standing by the gate, waiting for his brother.

"Buster what are you doing here?" Leonard asked as William ran to open the gate.

"I think he followed us dad." William said as the dog entered the front yard, jumping with excitement in being with his big brother. "You have to behave alright? We are guests here." said William as the dog barked and wagged its tail.

Larry's daughters joined them, excited to see the dog. "Hi Buster, you are such a cute boy!" Justine said while rubbing the dog's belly.

"He's really smart huh?" Jamie said, joining them in cuddling the dog. Buster tried to jump and lick the girl's faces, showing them his appreciation. "Okay Buster, cut it out." she said while laughing at the dog's affection.

"Is it true he comes with you to school every day?" Justine asked William.

"Uh huh. I told him that he has to behave and not bite or growl at anyone or we'll be in big trouble." said William.

"And he's been a good boy ever since?" asked Justine.

"All my classmates love him and Buster likes playing with them, you know running around, playing fetch and stuff." said William.

"Wow, that's great." said Janet.

"He loves playing with them because they always give him a treat or a candy." said William.

"Well, who wouldn't want free food right?" said Larry.

"We even made Buster stand on the teacher's desk for one lesson." William said.

"Really? How come you never told me about that?" Penny said.

"I guess I forgot mommy." he said. "Our teacher was teaching parts of an animal and I told her we could use Buster as a volunteer. I'm telling you mom, he stood there like a statue." William said making them all laugh.

"That's great sweetheart." Penny said as the kids continued playing with the dog, tossing a small stick for him to fetch while Justine took a small plate from the house with a few food scraps to reward Buster.

"So I guess Leonard's going to add another room in your house huh?" Larry said to Penny.

"I guess. I mean we have to make do with the space that we have, now that this one is gonna join us after five months' time." Penny said while touching her belly.

"Actually, Janet and I may have a solution for that." Larry said.

"Uh, what do you mean?" asked Penny.

"Well, you know that I'm an only child right?" Larry said. "And when my mom died a couple of years ago, she left me the house that I grew up in and Janet and I have been thinking about living there, now that it's a much better house than this one." he added.

"Is it bigger than this house?" Penny asked.

"Yeah. And it has an extra room for our daughters." said Larry. "Since we don't want this house to be left alone, we were thinking of letting you guys live here so you won't have to pay your monthly rent to your place." he said greatly surprising Penny.

"Uh, I don't know what to say Larry. I mean, that is very generous of you guys." she said then saw Leonard smiling at her. "Did you know anything about this?" she asked her husband.

Leonard nodded. "Larry and I have been talking about it for a couple of weeks now and we wanted to surprise you." he said.

"But we can't afford this place." said Penny.

"Honey, didn't you hear Larry? We won't have to pay any rent to him. We'll just take care of the utilities and some maintenance stuff here and there but after that, this is practically our house now." Leonard said as Penny hugged him tight.

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Penny said while squeezing Janet's hands.

"Don't mention it Penny. Just look at it as a baby gift from us." said Janet.

"And you kept this a secret from me!?" Penny said to Leonard.

"I'm sorry but I wanted to surprise you honey." said Leonard as Penny gave him a kiss.

"Daddy what happened?" William asked.

Leonard held out his hand and told his son to come to him. "Listen to me, your uncle Larry and aunt Janet are gonna live in his mom's house and they are gonna let us live here. Now that we're gonna have a new baby, we figured our house isn't big enough for four people." he said.

"Really? We're gonna live here?" asked William.

"Yes buddy. I mean, we don't have enough space for another room when the baby arrives and your room doesn't have enough space for you right?" said Leonard.

"But what about Jamie and Justine?" William said when the two girls joined in.

"Don't worry William, our grandma's house is much better than this. And we have bigger rooms there!" said Jamie.

"So buddy, what do you say?" Leonard asked William.

William then called the dog. "Hey Buster, do you wanna live here?" he asked as the dog jumped and barked at him while wagging his tail. William looked at his parents. "I think he likes it here mommy." he said making them all laugh.

"That's great sweetheart." Penny said while kissing her son.

They stayed in the front yard with Larry and his family until around two in the afternoon when Penny felt tired and sleepy. The couple thanked them for the brunch and most importantly for the offer to move in their house which is more than a baby gift as far as Penny is concerned. After saying their goodbyes to Larry, Janet and the kids, they went back to the car for them to return home for Penny and William to have some rest.