Aww shoo sweet ....
Kancheong mum Clueless dad
*excited
By Wendy Teo
May 22, 2006
WHEN it comes to parenting, CNA anchor Diana Ser is 'Dr Ser' while her
husband James Lye admits he is the clueless dad.
The former actor, who is a vice-president with Citibank, is expecting
his first child with Diana in October.
He is hoping to borrow 'Daddy 101' notes from good pal, actor Lim Yu
Beng, to prepare for the big day.
But don't expect James to be a nappy-changing-baby-bathing sensitive
new-age father.
When we inquired about his skills, he sounded shocked that he was
expected to have any.
'But that's why you have a wife, right?' he quipped.
'I belong to the play department. Maintenance department is next
door!' he told The New Paper on Sunday.
Clearly, the 37-year-old is in a jaunty mood about his impending fatherhood.
He kept the wisecracks coming throughout our phone interview with him
from Jakarta, where he was on a work assignment, on Tuesday.
Though Diana is only three and a half months pregnant and doesn't know
the sex of their baby yet, James is convinced that Diana is going to
have a boy, because of his 'engineering'.
'I was in church one evening when the pastor said this: Believe in
what you see. So I went home and found this really cute baby boy
screensaver and set it up in the computer. Diana was so surprised to
see it when she came home, and asked what is this?'
This was a month before Diana found out she was pregnant.
GIRLY DREAMS
Diana, on the other hand, couldn't hide the fact that she actually wants a girl.
Despite saying that having a boy will 'take the heat off since James
is the only son', she kept referring to her foetus in the feminine
sense during a separate interview with us.
'Girls are more fun hor,' she finally whispered after we pointed out
her Freudian slip.
When we asked when Diana and him started their baby-making plans,
James joked: 'Her schedule has always been very packed, so we didn't
really start trying until the end of last year.
'Moreover, the Government package sounded really good and we thought
it should be our public duty to start procreating.'
Call it an occupational hazard - even though James is about to be a
father, he's thinking retirement planning.
The fiscal-conscious one said: 'We are planning for two or three. I'm
into retirement planning. I want my children to support me when I'm
old.'
The couple married in June 2004, after a nine-year courtship.
They had wanted to start making babies right after their honeymoon,
but the plans had to be put on hold for six months as Diana had an
operation for fibroids in her womb.
Besides the fibroids, Diana also had treatment for a condition called
endometriosis, which could potentially make it difficult for her to
conceive.
EMOTIONAL
So it was a very emotional moment for both when the pregnancy test
results finally came back positive.
James was in the office when Diana called him up in tears.
'I was getting very anxious because she kept crying on the phone and
couldn't speak. So I asked her, 'Is it bad news?' And she went,
(pretends to bawl) 'I'm pregnant!''
He also admitted to feeling helpless over Diana's turbulent first trimester.
'The women may be the ones suffering from morning sickness, but it's
actually the men who are suffering more.
--The Straits Times
'It's such a terrible feeling to see the woman you love suffering, and
you can't do anything about it!'
Diana was so sick during the first two months of her pregnancy, she
was even admitted to hospital for two days because she was vomitting
every 20 minutes.
She added: 'James was in church at that time, and I had to ring him
because I'd been throwing up half the day, and I was worried about
dehydration. They (the hospital) had to put me on a drip and keep me
under observation.'
Throughout Diana's ordeal, James could only stay out of her way as she
rushed to and from the bathroom.
He sighed: 'If I could, I would definitely take over her suffering.'
He may be a clueless dad but he is certainly a tender husband.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work or baby?
IT'S a big decision to make.
On the one hand, she is a successful broadcast journalist. And on the
other, she has a new portfolio coming up - motherhood.
So will we get to see Diana on TV after her maternity leave?
She is still mulling over it.
Diana has no qualms about giving up her career for family, but feels
that she still has a lot to learn, work-wise.
'In terms of broadcast journalism, I feel I'm still very young, not in
terms of age but in experience.'
And both she and James have been discussing their options.
'Some people have no choice (but to carry on working)... Maybe we will
just have to take one holiday less or something.'
As it is, she admitted her terrible morning sickness condition has
affected her work during this period.
''There was once I was feeling unwell, but I insisted on going to work
for the evening broadcast because I didn't want my colleagues to have
to reschedule. But by 6pm, I couldn't speak for more than 30 seconds
without puking, so I knew there was no way I could go on air.
'In the end, my supervisor had to call in another colleague last
minute to cover me. I felt so bad.'
Meanwhile, husband James Lye is supportive of whichever path she chooses.
He said: 'She probably has to think over it herself. She will need
quite a balance between work and children. What matters is her
happiness. I always believe that you have to be happy in what you do.'
*excited
By Wendy Teo
May 22, 2006
WHEN it comes to parenting, CNA anchor Diana Ser is 'Dr Ser' while her
husband James Lye admits he is the clueless dad.
The former actor, who is a vice-president with Citibank, is expecting
his first child with Diana in October.
He is hoping to borrow 'Daddy 101' notes from good pal, actor Lim Yu
Beng, to prepare for the big day.
But don't expect James to be a nappy-changing-baby-bathing sensitive
new-age father.
When we inquired about his skills, he sounded shocked that he was
expected to have any.
'But that's why you have a wife, right?' he quipped.
'I belong to the play department. Maintenance department is next
door!' he told The New Paper on Sunday.
Clearly, the 37-year-old is in a jaunty mood about his impending fatherhood.
He kept the wisecracks coming throughout our phone interview with him
from Jakarta, where he was on a work assignment, on Tuesday.
Though Diana is only three and a half months pregnant and doesn't know
the sex of their baby yet, James is convinced that Diana is going to
have a boy, because of his 'engineering'.
'I was in church one evening when the pastor said this: Believe in
what you see. So I went home and found this really cute baby boy
screensaver and set it up in the computer. Diana was so surprised to
see it when she came home, and asked what is this?'
This was a month before Diana found out she was pregnant.
GIRLY DREAMS
Diana, on the other hand, couldn't hide the fact that she actually wants a girl.
Despite saying that having a boy will 'take the heat off since James
is the only son', she kept referring to her foetus in the feminine
sense during a separate interview with us.
'Girls are more fun hor,' she finally whispered after we pointed out
her Freudian slip.
When we asked when Diana and him started their baby-making plans,
James joked: 'Her schedule has always been very packed, so we didn't
really start trying until the end of last year.
'Moreover, the Government package sounded really good and we thought
it should be our public duty to start procreating.'
Call it an occupational hazard - even though James is about to be a
father, he's thinking retirement planning.
The fiscal-conscious one said: 'We are planning for two or three. I'm
into retirement planning. I want my children to support me when I'm
old.'
The couple married in June 2004, after a nine-year courtship.
They had wanted to start making babies right after their honeymoon,
but the plans had to be put on hold for six months as Diana had an
operation for fibroids in her womb.
Besides the fibroids, Diana also had treatment for a condition called
endometriosis, which could potentially make it difficult for her to
conceive.
EMOTIONAL
So it was a very emotional moment for both when the pregnancy test
results finally came back positive.
James was in the office when Diana called him up in tears.
'I was getting very anxious because she kept crying on the phone and
couldn't speak. So I asked her, 'Is it bad news?' And she went,
(pretends to bawl) 'I'm pregnant!''
He also admitted to feeling helpless over Diana's turbulent first trimester.
'The women may be the ones suffering from morning sickness, but it's
actually the men who are suffering more.
--The Straits Times
'It's such a terrible feeling to see the woman you love suffering, and
you can't do anything about it!'
Diana was so sick during the first two months of her pregnancy, she
was even admitted to hospital for two days because she was vomitting
every 20 minutes.
She added: 'James was in church at that time, and I had to ring him
because I'd been throwing up half the day, and I was worried about
dehydration. They (the hospital) had to put me on a drip and keep me
under observation.'
Throughout Diana's ordeal, James could only stay out of her way as she
rushed to and from the bathroom.
He sighed: 'If I could, I would definitely take over her suffering.'
He may be a clueless dad but he is certainly a tender husband.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work or baby?
IT'S a big decision to make.
On the one hand, she is a successful broadcast journalist. And on the
other, she has a new portfolio coming up - motherhood.
So will we get to see Diana on TV after her maternity leave?
She is still mulling over it.
Diana has no qualms about giving up her career for family, but feels
that she still has a lot to learn, work-wise.
'In terms of broadcast journalism, I feel I'm still very young, not in
terms of age but in experience.'
And both she and James have been discussing their options.
'Some people have no choice (but to carry on working)... Maybe we will
just have to take one holiday less or something.'
As it is, she admitted her terrible morning sickness condition has
affected her work during this period.
''There was once I was feeling unwell, but I insisted on going to work
for the evening broadcast because I didn't want my colleagues to have
to reschedule. But by 6pm, I couldn't speak for more than 30 seconds
without puking, so I knew there was no way I could go on air.
'In the end, my supervisor had to call in another colleague last
minute to cover me. I felt so bad.'
Meanwhile, husband James Lye is supportive of whichever path she chooses.
He said: 'She probably has to think over it herself. She will need
quite a balance between work and children. What matters is her
happiness. I always believe that you have to be happy in what you do.'