Was at KKH last night to visit Eileen and her newborn.

Baby Isabelle is ...... just so adorable, so cute, so pretty, and so so so sweet!! I don't think there're any words that will describe her with justice.

I wonder how anyone who looks at her-all wrapped up in her pink throw and sleeping in her little cot-can possibly have their hearts NOT melted....

And amidst all the "coo-ing" and "aww-ing" at Baby Isabelle, my beloved SL posed the *ahem* question to me, albeit in a joking manner (I hope!).

Some snippets from my beloved SL:

"I think those who have licence to give birth should have 4 kids. If you have 2, they will fight with each other. If you have 3, then 2 will fight and 1 will feel lonely. But if you have 4, then 2 will fight, and the other 2 will watch."

My response was:

(To the first): "I also have licence to drive, but have you seen me utilising this licence?"

(To the second): "You gotta be kidding man"

Kenneth's response to the second was:

"If there're 4 kids, 2 will fight, 1 will cheer, and 1 will be the referee."

(How anyone can come up with that is beyond me! )

Jokes aside, I think the crux isn't so much in giving birth.

For the matter, in this modern world of free thoughts, speech, and action, anyone can give birth.

Oh yes, of course, you will need to be of the female gender, be medically healthy, and in the context of church and morality, you need to first obtain the supposed "licence".

And of course again, sufficient level of pain tolerance.

But other than that, there isn't much to "giving birth" that is making people hesitate to do so.

No, it isn't the "giving birth" that scares me. It's what happens after the "coo-ing" and "aww-ing" is over that always makes me think twice.

After the "giving birth" stage comes the stage called "raising the kid".

When everyone is done gushing over your kid's cute-ness, it becomes, and always will be, your responsibility to raise the kid.

And it's a ride where once you get on, you can't simply get off anytime you want to.

It's not like a project or an assignment where you make mistakes, or you screw up bad, and you get a lousy performance appraisal, but you can at least tell yourself "it's ok, I'll try harder the next round".

As at this point, "raising the kid" comes up to these 2 points for me:

1) Will I be able to sufficiently provide for the kid?

And no, I'm not referring to fancy clothes or fancy shoes here. I'm talking about if my kid needs a computer for school, I want to be able to buy him a computer without having to rack my brains on the cost for 10 months. And if my kid wants to go to law school, I want to be able to put him thru' law school without having to sacrifice the rest of the family's meals or vacations.

2) Will I be able to bring up my kid to love God and to do good, rather than to do harm, to the community? What if my kid turns out to be a menace who wrecks havoc to the society? Eeewwww... that's so freaky man...

Sighh..... so you see, "giving birth" is not the hardest part. It's what comes after that puts people to a halt.

But oh well, I guess I needn't be thinking so far ahead right now. At least I've still got a couple of months to go before obtaining my licence. Hahahaha...

And at least for the moment, I'm pretty much blessed with the knowledge that I have a future partner who loves kids, is great with them, and wants to have his own.

I know of too many friends who are stuck in marriages that can't move forward becos one party doesn't want to have a child.

For now, here's some "baby" photos for you...... of a different species.......

Posted this photo to show the kitten's "tiny-ness".

When he first arrived, we used to think of him as a little stuffed toy walking around the house, mewing non-stop in his possibly loudest tone, but which in actual fact was just a squeak due to his size :)