Dreams

So many songs have been written about dreams. I think a lot of people are curious about them like I am. I have had all kinds of dreams. Some of them have actually warned me about things, some have seemed purely for entertainment, and some of them I am not sure which category they fall under.

A lot of times my dreams will be somewhat related to whatever the last thing I thought about before I go to bed. I have had dreams that were so terrible and when I wake up I am so thankful that it was just a dream and I have also had the opposite - dreams so wonderful that waking up was a bit of a bummer. My life is beautiful and I am thankful for it, but I have had times where I wish I could hang out in a good dream I had been having a little bit longer..

Chords:

Verses (2x's each chord)
C, E major, A minor (1x), F

Chorus (2x's each chord)
Am, F, G

I was a little confused at how to switch from the verses to the chorus, but it ended up being a little more doable than I thought. My teacher suggested this time I come up with the melody before the lyrics. I had already come up with one verse (which interestingly ended up being the very last verse of the finished song).

When I was humming around, trying to find a melody, I imagined some lady singing at a outdoor party on a warm night in San Diego with her ukelele. I thought, what would a song like that sound like?

I'm not sure if I accomplished it or not, but it's what the song reminds me of since that's what I was picturing when I was trying to come up with it.

The first time I recorded it a few days ago, I was playing down in the basement and James stomped across the floor upstairs right at the very end of the song. I decided to re-record this afternoon, but it just didn't have same feel at the end without little James' stomping across the floor! 😄 So, I decided to clip that part from the other recording and paste it on at the end. I feel like it adds to how random dreams can be, and then you get slammed shut out of the dream and there isn't going back the way James slams the door at the very end. At least for me, I hardly ever have a repeat dream. They're always different every night.

Here's the song!

Dreams

Feel that breeze

Go through the trees (end up)

Waves, crash and flow

How can you know (end low) 6

What your dreams are made of

Maybe things you’re afraid of  

Or the people you want to      

love you

--CHORUS-------------

Stop the track

Let me turn back,

To that Eden please

----------------------------

Where do they come from

Push comes to shove

are they sent from above?

Are they things from our head

Are they things that you’ve always wanted?

Beepity bops 1 progression per chord here...

--CHORUS-------------

Stop the track

Let me turn back,

To that Eden please

-----------------------------

Dreams, are funny things

What do they mean

What would you say?

Neutropenia

We recently learned Glenny is neutropenic. Which is basically that his body isn't making an important white blood cell called a neutrophil. This is dangerous because it is responsible for fighting infection. We have been trying to figure out what could be causing it and the doctors do not know for sure. They suspect it is benign childhood neutropenia, but it could be something else. They would like to do an invasive procedure and more testing. For now we have to go in and have his blood tested weekly to monitor it.

Each time baby Glenny has a fever, we have to go to the hospital and have them do tests and give him a powerful round of antibiotics. Glen has done so well despite how hard it's been. The hardest thing was when he had to stay at the hospital for a few days. I felt so bad for him as he is at a curious age where he wants to move around and explore everything.

At one point he had ripped the IV out of his arm in the middle of the night and there was blood everywhere... Watching them pin him down, poke him, and try to look unsuccessfully for a vein over and again was also hard.

No matter the child, I am sure this would be difficult for any mother, but Glen is an ANGEL baby. I'm really not sure there ever was a sweeter baby born on the face of the planet. He is by far my most snuggly baby, and he loves everyone he meets. One time he leaned in to a perfect stranger just to give them a hug and have him snuggle him. His sweetness only makes watching him suffer all the more painful...

SO, this week our assignment was to write a song with these chords:

B Major, G flat, A flat minor, B Major, E Major, G flat

All of those chords are bar chords except for the E Major. I'm still working on switching between bar chords and trying to press down hard enough to get it to sound clear.

I had my teacher send me a recording of it so I could complete the assignment! It is amazing though, I can see how each week my fingers get stronger and sometimes I surprise myself when I hear myself play an a shape bar chord clearly on the first try. It doesn't usually happen, but when it does, it's definitely awesome and makes me feel super hopeful!

I was excited to work on my song and originally made a different song about how the season is changing and football/cheerleading is ending and how I loved my four children. But then when we had to go to the hospital this past week and also after learning about how Glenny might have to have a bone marrow test done, I really had a hard time thinking about anything except for what was happening with him.

I decided to redo my song with a new melody and lyrics. It felt therapeutic to write about and even to sing about it. I sometimes sing the line, "you're such a real live dollie" to baby Glenny now.

He truly is a little doll and I love him so much. I am thankful for all of the support and prayers we have had while we've been going through this. The people up here in New York and in our church have been so wonderful to us.

Here are the lyrics and the song:

Neutropenia

Here we go again

On and on and on

Back and forth we go

To and fro

Tossed around the hospital

Waiting for the answers, no answer...

Neutropenia go away

You’re not invited to stay

Why’s it gotta be this way?

He can’t deserve this

My sweet little boy

With everything he gives                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Love for everyone, hugs for all

A real life dollie

Neutropenia go away

You’re not invited to stay

      

Baby Tree

James watering one of "the babies."

This summer we bought the house we were renting from our landlords. There are so many things we want to do to it to make the place "ours," but we are going to have to take it little by little. We decided that if we want to plant trees, that should be one of the first things we should do because it can take a while for them to mature.

I wanted to plant them in a row lining our driveway and Clark has always loved dogwood trees, so we planted 5 dogwoods and they became known as "the babies." We gave them all of the good stuff and made sure to water them a ton.

When we left for Texas, Clark set up a hose system that ended up not working on one of the trees. When we got back, the leaves were dried and it was dying. We ended up having to replace the tree and it was sad, but luckily it didn't seem like there was much of a root system anyway.

Fast forward a few months, we were given the assignment to create a song with these chords:

Am, F, C, G

I wasn't sure what to write my song about, but when I thought about the trees and wondered if they were getting enough water from the rain outside, I decided that is what I would write about. It was a fun project! There were various parts in it that definitely could be applied to other parts of my life, which made the song a little deeper than singing about a tree :D.

I decided to find a rain sound and add a rice shaker to the song too. The rice shaker was a little hard to use, I may end up wanting to get an actual maraca if I end up wanting that sound a lot in the future.

Here's the song!