#thedertings

WOW! Its been tooo long! I have been trying to write for awhile now, but 2 things have stood in my way....writer's block and life! My last blog way back when was about memories and that is what the Derting's have been doing...making memories. At this point....it would take days to catch up the past few months, so I will try and hit some highlights....... Our sweet Britan Rae will be 5 months tomorrow. She is such a sweet girl. She LOVES to eat...everything and anything you put near her mouth, but she still doesn't LOVE to sleep. She is very entertaining at this stage and has met and surpassed many of the developmental milestones for her age. She LOVES her big brother and he is pretty smitten by her as well. We love this sweet, smiley girl that honestly we can't remember life without!! Our big boy Bryson will be 6 in less than 2 months. Which means party planning has begun at the Derting's! He LOVES school....and I LOVE to see him while I am working!! He ...

Life is full of fun, exciting, happy, scary, sad memories...but no matter how they are, they are with you forever. Memories are what make your life and what make you keeping living life so that you can make more......... Brooks and Bryson asked me this morning, on balloon hunt number 5 out of 6 for the weekend, what my deal is with hot air balloons....so I started thinking about my answer this afternoon when my camera was full of 239 balloon pictures. Balloons to me mean many cherished childhood memories....memories that make me smile when I think of them and memories that I hope Bryson made today and will smile at one day......... I have MANY memories of these amazing flying creations..... I remember Wesley and I waking up one Sunday morning to probably 10 balloons taking off in the fields right in our front yard, I cut my hair off in the 5th grade (the shortest it had ever been) at the Balloon Rally, I remember selling Bojangles chicken for a cheerleading fundraiser and tether...

Today is our 14th "dating" Anniversary!!! I have spent almost 1/2 of my life with a boy named Brooks and I know there is no other person in this world that I am suppose to be with! Last year I wrote about how everything started.... This year since things have change so much for us, I think I should share how AMAZING my husband truly is..... Two weeks ago he had to go out of town for work and within 2 hours of him leaving.....there was a knock at the door and 6 beautiful red roses waiting on me! I remember the 1st time he went to visit his dad, the 1st summer we were dating, and this same surprise came to the door attached with a black teddy bear! He has always been so thoughtful and he loves to surprise me often with little notes around the house or in my car or a rose every now and then. I know that he loves me no matter how mad I make him.  I knew that he would be a great husband...or I wouldn't have waited so long to marry him, but I guess I never imagined h...

One year ago, I remember everything so clearly....this is the week that we were suppose to hear our 2nd babies heartbeat and go on one of our usual beach trips. But this time a year ago things changed for us so quickly and it is now amazing for me to be able to reflect and see how far we have come and how happily we have grown! This time last year, Brooks and I questioned whether or not we would even try to have another baby after the heartache we experienced during our sad September....but we had no idea we would be blessed within 8 short weeks with the answer, our 3rd pregnancy! The end of this September is so much brighter than the last and we have woken up everyday for the past 9 weeks to this beautiful, smiling little girl, our Britan Rae! Although we didn't understand then and we still don't know why our 2nd baby wasn't meant to be ours in this lifetime, we are still thankful for the lesson we learned from our pain, but more thankful for the blessings that had ...

One year ago today I started this writing journey to help heal my broken heart! One year later I continue to write, but for other, happier reasons. I don't have much time today, but I wanted to say thank you to everyone that has read, commented and listened to our life stories! There is already a blog ready for tomorrow...so stay tuned :) Much Love, Alysha

Today was not the day I had envisioned...this is my last week home with my sweet baby and I was hoping to just spend time with her and not do too much. However, an early morning phone call changed the plans very quickly and has forced me to look back on my childhood and all the fond membries (memories per Bryson) it holds. Mom called this morning with the sad news, that many of you have already heard, a good friend was killed last night. This boy has been around since I was 5 and cried everyday for months in kindergarten (that is where Bryson gets it). He referred to me as the girl with dots at the time (b/c of my freckles), but at the time we didn't know we would share so many memories throughout our school years. We would meet (not intentionally) about every Saturday night at Laney's Fish Camp with our families and I am told we would peak over at one another the whole meal. We didn't know then that many years would soon be spent maki...

We have been told that Britan has reflux, but that there is not a real way to determine this other than doing an xray that would subject her to radiation that could be more harmful to her. I am not convinced its reflux, but I am convinced that something is bothering her and I can't figure it out. We see that she does have some signs of reflux, but some signs like not eating and not gaining weigh she totally doesn't have. She does throw up, mostly for me not as bad for Brooks. I have researched colic too and I have to admit she doesn't cry for hours on end, but she doesn't sleep for long periods without fussing either. Pretty much everything it says to do for a baby with colic, she loves...she loves to move constantly, loves her paci, loves white noise, to be swaddled. Also, I have found colic babies are good eaters and gain weigh unlike reflux babies which she is for sure gaining. We are now on Zantac and have been for 3 days, but at this point I can't say its hel...