We recently heard from a woman whose boyfriend wanted a baby. The only problem was she was 48 and had teenage kids. Today we hear from Lainie and Zooey, who both had bonus babies. Their advice: Go for it!

LAINIE: I married in 1981 when I was 19. We had a son in 1985, a daughter in 1989 and a bonus baby in 2005. Having a baby when I was 43 was a very scary prospect. We did amniocentesis, and it showed everything was good.

My son had already left home when I told him I was pregnant. He took the news in stride. But my daughter turned pale. She was sure her life would be ruined and everyone would think the baby was hers.

It's all turned out remarkably well. Cody is pure joy. Having a 4-year-old is definitely work, but there's so much pleasure that goes along with it.

I was mainly a stay-at-home mom with the first two children. I'm a full-time working mom now, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have so much more patience now that I'm not around a child 24 hours a day.

My husband and I are both the children of older parents, and I deliberately planned to have my children while I was fairly young. But we can't imagine life without Cody. My daughter is in college, and without him we'd be empty nesters. I'm not sure we would have enjoyed that. The marriage probably would have survived, but who knows? Before Cody, things had gotten stale. He has gotten us out of our rut. The little guy means a whole new level of commitment.

ZOOEY: I had Daniel when I was 40 and my husband was 55. I was a bonus baby myself. My parents were 39 and 54 when I was born. My brothers were much older. My husband has much younger siblings who were born when their parents were in their late 40s.

Maybe it was easier for us than other couples because we both have large extended families with close relatives of a wide range of ages.

Children of older parents spend more time with them while they have them because the parents aren't so busy. I spent a lot of time with my dad and learned a lot from him, and my son was his dad's shadow when he was growing up.

It's not easy losing your parents when you're fairly young, but when my parents died, my uncles, aunts, older brothers and sisters-in-law were all mentors for me and substitute grandparents for my kids. As my older brothers have died, I've gone from being the little sister of big brothers to the big sister of nieces and nephews. One of my nephews commented recently that he was glad I was so much younger than his parents because he still has me around as a connection with them.

As I've gotten older, I've become more and more appreciative of my family. My big brothers were incredibly good to me. My older kids also had a lot of fun with their "pet baby brother," and they're all very close. My younger son is a tremendous blessing and has brought much joy into our lives. He certainly got us out of our ruts!

Vacations: Relationship booster or destroyer? Send your tale, along with your questions and problems to cheryllavinrapp@gmail.com. And check out my e-books, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front" and "I'll Call You. Not."