Is time running out?

So Mike and I have been talking in depth about the possibility of having another baby.  He actually brought it up to me not to long ago which kind of shocked me, seeing as he has expressed to me he is perfectly happy with just one.  After having Noah, I knew I would want another one because I want Noah to have a sibling....someone to play with, someone to get in trouble with, someone that will look up to him as the Big Brother, and all the other things that come along with having siblings, mainly because I am an only child and never had that.  Plus I love my son to death and I want to share that love with another child.  Its funny because we were sooooooo not ready for Noah, but we made it happen financially.  We had no nest egg saved or anything, but like I said, we made it work.  Now, we are both in better jobs, making more money, but the financial stresses still worry me.  I mean, with the price of gas rising like it is, it is crazy. I was watching the news this morning and there was an analyst talking about how he predicts gas will be $7 a gallon in 2012...thats only 4 years away people!!  That definitely scare the shit out of me to hear that.  I remember when I started driving, gas was only $1.09 a gallon and $15 would fill up my tank for the week.  Now it  will barely get you to the next town and back.  Mike is super nervous about bringing another kid into this crazy world and I don't blame him.  Plus the cost of living in this area is outrageous. I am an avid watcher of HDTV's House Hunters and it makes me sick to my stomach knowing the average cost of a home in this area (Northeast/Fairfield County) is about $350K  while you have people looking in other areas (like the Midwest) for half of that, and getting much more.   We have realized that we are going to have to move one of these days because sinking all our money into a house is crazy.  I know we could find a nice house in a nice area for a fraction of what we would pay here.  However, I would have to have a great job lined up because unfortunately, I don't think I can work from home.  Anyway, getting back on tract.......

My financial worries include:
1.  2 kids in day care, which cost $230 a week for 1 which = $920 a month
2.  Formula (we spent about $120 a month for Noah)
3.  A  paycut for going on maternity leave - I had to wait almost 3 months to get disability from my last job while I was out on leave, which caused us to get WAY behind on our bills.
4.  Extra food and diapers, etc

Besides those, timing is an issue.  My job offers your full salary for 6 weeks of maternity leave after you have been here for 2 years.  My 2 years will be June 30 2009.  We have decided to postpone the wedding from this May to May 2009 so we can save more money.  We didn't want to go into a marriage with over 10k in debt, so postponement was a good idea for us.  However, that means we have to wait longer to conceive because I do not want to be preggo at my wedding because A) My dress wont fit  B) I wont be able to have a few drinks and just relax and C)  Going on my honeymoon preggo just doesn't sound appealing to me.
So with that said, the earliest we could start planning for baby #2 would be June 2009 which means, if we got preggo 1st try, the new baby would be born around March 2010 and Noah would already be 3 1/2.  I just don't want them to be to far apart and I have heard having them closer together is better because you are still in "baby" mode.  After 3+ years of not having to wake up every 2 hours in the middle of the night, am I going to be able to do it?  But then I think, I went 24 years of not having to and I adapted.  I guess its not the worse thing in the world to have kids 3-4 years apart and I stress over it more then I need to sometimes.  I have to be in control and have some sort of plan, but maybe letting nature run its course is the only thing I can do.  Fortunately I will still be in my 20's when we have #2 so hopefully my chances of conceiving will be easy, because many people I know have a hard time getting and staying pregnant.

The bright side:  Noah will be able to help with the new baby when he is alittle older...at least thats what I would like to hope!