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[CountryMommy]

Hi everyone! I am due around July 3rd and this is my third pregnancy. I have a 4.5yr old and a 2.5yr old (nursling  )  We live in BC Canada but are in the process of moving to Alberta. We have a small farm-horses, goats, chickens and of course family pets, dogs and a cat....it is going to be a crazy move with all of us! I am looking forward to chatting with everyone :)

[lolliegee]

Dayiscoming Thanks for your encouragement. I'm hoping that I can get an ultrasound to confirm my suspicions as early as next week. That'd be cool if we both were pregnant with twins. It'd be nice to have a twin buddy!

[InLove2009]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Lisa and this is my first baby! I have been married to my husband for 3.5 years and we have been trying for about a year! We live in Michigan, but I am originally from Germany. So if anyone has any tips on how to raise your child bilingual, if only one of the parents is bilingual, I would really appreciate it! 

We are so happy! It feels so good to finally say "I am pregnant"!! Nice to meet you all!

Oh, also, according to my family history I am next in line for twins as well! We will see as the weeks progress 

[InLove2009]

Oh i forgot- I am due on or around July 15th!! 

[dayiscoming2006]

Originally Posted by InLove2009 

So if anyone has any tips on how to raise your child bilingual, if only one of the parents is bilingual, I would really appreciate it! 

My husband knows 5 languages. I know one. But, I do understand some Spanish and Romanian(his language.) As far as raising kids bilingual. I have read that you basically have to talk to your child in your language all the time if you want any hope of them being fluent. I asked my husband to try, but it just became too hard, so he stopped. I do plan on teaching my kids and myself some Spanish.

[heyitskalista]

My kids are not fully bilingual because I didn't want to speak French to them all the time. My husband doesn't speak French so it would get kind of awkward. I speak French to them probably 40-60% of the time. They understand perfectly. It is harder for them to respond because they obviously think in English but they are doing very well still! They sometimes confuse the two languages, which I think is adorable!

[Rose Hollo]

Originally Posted by heyitskalista 

Rose- I got pregnant when my son was 7 months old. It is the best age gap! I LOVE having them close! It's busy for sure but you're already in the baby stage so you just add one more in! Lol

Thanks for the encouragement!  We held on to our all our newborn stuff, so I guess it'll all work out!  LOL   

[Rose Hollo]

Originally Posted by dayiscoming2006 

My husband knows 5 languages. I know one. But, I do understand some Spanish and Romanian(his language.) As far as raising kids bilingual. I have read that you basically have to talk to your child in your language all the time if you want any hope of them being fluent. I asked my husband to try, but it just became too hard, so he stopped. I do plan on teaching my kids and myself some Spanish.

I did some research on this a while back and I wish I had a link or something for you, but I don't. Anyhow, I have read that there is research that (1) baby sign language, as a language base, will help a baby develop his or her communication skills in such a way that it will be easier for them to learn any language, and (2) that if teaching a baby a foreign language while teaching him/her English, one parent should always use one language, and the other parent should always use the other.  The reasoning for this is so baby can distinguish between the two languages and will know the difference (learning two ways to communicate), instead of learning a hybrid language in which the baby uses two languages inter-changably as one.  Does that make sense?  

A good example... My sister's bro and sis-in law... He is American. She is German.  He speaks English only to them.  But she speaks both German and English to them. So when they speak to other people, their sentences can be made up of German and English words and they are difficult to understand.  If she had only spoken German to them, they would have learned to communicate in both full English with their dad (and other Eng. speakers) and full German with their mom (and other German speakers), instead of a difficult-to-undertand English-German mix with everyone.     Nobody can understand them now!  Ha ha.   Granted, they are only 18 months and 3 years, but this will definitely be a difficult thing for them when they go to Kindergarten.

[dayiscoming2006]

Originally Posted by Rose Hollo 
that if teaching a baby a foreign language while teaching him/her English, one parent should always use one language, and the other parent should always use the other.  The reasoning for this is so baby can distinguish between the two languages and will know the difference (learning two ways to communicate), instead of learning a hybrid language in which the baby uses two languages inter-changably as one.  Does that make sense?  

That's what I was trying to say and also the fluency would be lacking if they knew mom (or dad) would speak English they could easily get lazy and just say I don't want to speak that other language anymore, it is too hard, everyone I know speaks English. But, I really think it works best if mom or dad stays home to take care of them and speaks to them in the second language all the time otherwise they won't be as exposed to it. I just decided not to worry about it since my husband wasn't motivated to continue with it and I did find it annoying sometimes when he spoke to them and I had only a small idea what he was saying.

[heyitskalista]

Originally Posted by dayiscoming2006 

That's what I was trying to say and also the fluency would be lacking if they knew mom (or dad) would speak English they could easily get lazy and just say I don't want to speak that other language anymore, it is too hard, everyone I know speaks English. But, I really think it works best if mom or dad stays home to take care of them and speaks to them in the second language all the time otherwise they won't be as exposed to it. I just decided not to worry about it since my husband wasn't motivated to continue with it and I did find it annoying sometimes when he spoke to them and I had only a small idea what he was saying.

Its interesting...we've never experienced the laziness thing.  My kids respond in whatever language they are spoken to.  And while there is confusion between the two languages sometimes (there are some words that they can't seem to remember in English so they just say it in french), my eldest has a very good grasp on it.  She's 5 though.

I think any exposure to another language is beneficial.  Especially at such a young age.  :)

My husband felt like you, annoyed that he didn't understand...which is why we speak English when he's around!

[dayiscoming2006]

Originally Posted by heyitskalista 

I think any exposure to another language is beneficial.  Especially at such a young age.  :)

That's true.

[MonkeyPrincess]

Hello, everyone! I've been waiting for this group to start. ;-)

I have five kids of my own, ages 15, 13, 10, 8 and 5. I am currently pregnant as a surrogate, due July 11th. I found out this morning that I am indeed pregnant with twins! And while I'm not surprised, I am still quite shocked at the reality of it...

Looking forward to getting to know all of you! Congrats on your pregnancies. :)

[heyitskalista]

Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess 

Hello, everyone! I've been waiting for this group to start. ;-)

I have five kids of my own, ages 15, 13, 10, 8 and 5. I am currently pregnant as a surrogate, due July 11th. I found out this morning that I am indeed pregnant with twins! And while I'm not surprised, I am still quite shocked at the reality of it...

Looking forward to getting to know all of you! Congrats on your pregnancies. :)

Welcome!! 

How exciting that you're being a surrogate!  And with twins!!!  What an amazing gift! 

I'm really looking forward to following your pregnancy! :)

[lolliegee]

I think being a surrogate is such a wonderful gift to give the parents!

[ashleybrook]

inLove2009-- my husband and i both speak english/french to our son. in fact since we've been together we go back and forth between the two languages all the time. he is french but has lived in us about 15 years so he actually speaks better english than i do french. however, we both speak to our son in both languages. we both tried to concentrate more on french knowing the english will come because of where we live and who we interact with daily. we didn't want to dedicate one language to one parent because it was unnatural to us....and because the children will be more around me than him because of work, etc. and even though i don't speak perfect french, i too think any 2nd language exposure is great...even if it's imperfect. i don't care if they speak, write, read french perfectly...so long as they can communicate with family who only speaks french.:)

my son understands both languages very well, though he's just 20 months. it is really fun to see him pick up more of one language when family is visiting that speaks that language. we had french family in for 6 weeks and then texas family in for 3 weeks so it was fun to see those growth spurts in each language.  

if i were in your shoes i'd probably do the 1 parent, 1 language and it'd probably work our really well! congratulations on even being open to it...i think it is a nice gift to share with your children when it's an option.

monkeyprincess-- wow. how amazing. a surrogate and twins. you are a brave woman! looking forward to seeing your journey!

[InLove2009]

Originally Posted by Rose Hollo 

I did some research on this a while back and I wish I had a link or something for you, but I don't. Anyhow, I have read that there is research that (1) baby sign language, as a language base, will help a baby develop his or her communication skills in such a way that it will be easier for them to learn any language, and (2) that if teaching a baby a foreign language while teaching him/her English, one parent should always use one language, and the other parent should always use the other.  The reasoning for this is so baby can distinguish between the two languages and will know the difference (learning two ways to communicate), instead of learning a hybrid language in which the baby uses two languages inter-changably as one.  Does that make sense?  

A good example... My sister's bro and sis-in law... He is American. She is German.  He speaks English only to them.  But she speaks both German and English to them. So when they speak to other people, their sentences can be made up of German and English words and they are difficult to understand.  If she had only spoken German to them, they would have learned to communicate in both full English with their dad (and other Eng. speakers) and full German with their mom (and other German speakers), instead of a difficult-to-undertand English-German mix with everyone.     Nobody can understand them now!  Ha ha.   Granted, they are only 18 months and 3 years, but this will definitely be a difficult thing for them when they go to Kindergarten.

Thanks for the tips! My family doesn't speak english at all, so this is something I really want to do so that my children will be able to communicate with my side of the family! It is going to be hard to only speak german though :) Thanks! 

[InLove2009]

Originally Posted by ashleybrook 

inLove2009-- my husband and i both speak english/french to our son. in fact since we've been together we go back and forth between the two languages all the time. he is french but has lived in us about 15 years so he actually speaks better english than i do french. however, we both speak to our son in both languages. we both tried to concentrate more on french knowing the english will come because of where we live and who we interact with daily. we didn't want to dedicate one language to one parent because it was unnatural to us....and because the children will be more around me than him because of work, etc. and even though i don't speak perfect french, i too think any 2nd language exposure is great...even if it's imperfect. i don't care if they speak, write, read french perfectly...so long as they can communicate with family who only speaks french.:)

my son understands both languages very well, though he's just 20 months. it is really fun to see him pick up more of one language when family is visiting that speaks that language. we had french family in for 6 weeks and then texas family in for 3 weeks so it was fun to see those growth spurts in each language.  

if i were in your shoes i'd probably do the 1 parent, 1 language and it'd probably work our really well! congratulations on even being open to it...i think it is a nice gift to share with your children when it's an option.

monkeyprincess-- wow. how amazing. a surrogate and twins. you are a brave woman! looking forward to seeing your journey!

Thanks! 

[talldarkeyes]

Originally Posted by InLove2009 

Thanks for the tips! My family doesn't speak english at all, so this is something I really want to do so that my children will be able to communicate with my side of the family! It is going to be hard to only speak german though :) Thanks! 

I have a friend who is German and her American children speak perfect German. You just need to be able to speak with them only in German. I have a friend in Germany who only speaks English with her children to the same effect. I think it matters most who is caring for them the majority of the time. My husband speaks fluent German and he tried to speak it with our dd but all it resulted in is that she thinks she speaks German but is just adding hacking sounds while speaking English. It is really funny.

[wrenmoon]

Well, I'm going to tentatively put my name in this group. I am Summer, I have two children 7yr old boy and 5 yr old girl and am pregnant with number three. This is my ninth and last pregnancy. So far I haven't made it past seven weeks and I'm kind of a mess right now with hope and worry but, ah well, I'm jumping in.
Five week three days today, due on my birthday July 15.
I'll be wringing my hands for a few weeks and headed to the midwife today to check progesterone. I hope to be able to walk the whole walk with you all!

[emilyfaith]

Hi I'm a mother of one very active little boy (4), Wife to wonderful husband and just 6 weeks prego. I have been hanging out in the the June due date club because I knew I was pregnant and no-one had started this club ( I couldn't figure out how. he he) I also teach preschool part-time and am working on my DONA certification.  I have a birth coming up in January and hope to have my certification done by then. I love pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding! So excited to be pregnant after a loss. Oh also love chocolate and fair weather running. Congrats to all!