Thank you to all of you for all your input and suggestions. My husband and I are really set on either a Maltese or Yorkie, and are interested in the 5ish pound size as I want to take him with me as often as possible. I also am not really interested in most other breeds, especially because of my allergies. Since I don't have kids yet I figured the puppy won't be a puppy anymore by the time it has to deal with a toddler in the house and I
think that with a baby having a dog at home from birth, and my supervision, s/he will learn early on to be as careful as possible--unlike a child visitor who wouldn't know better. Still, I realize this is ideal thinking
My concern about "yappiness" seems clarified in that it's more the independent dog than the breed. This seems somewhat true for housebreaking, too?
As far as family-friendly, I just wanted to get people's experiences about these breeds being around kids because a few people have mentioned to me that they know Yorkies to be more short-tempered with kids (not that I'd necessarily blame them--with the hair pulling and head-bopping and all!)
Thanks again for all your wisdom!