Onions

Yep, still pregnant.

I'm pretty uncomfortable at this point... two days away from my due date. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty grumpy all the time! Case in point - I got mad yesterday about onions. You ready for this?

My mom makes this dish that I call "Cheesy Potatoes." I'm not sure what the real name is, but that doesn't matter right now. Just know that it involves hashbrowns, lots of cheese and creamy stuff, and crispy cornflakes on the top. It's like a casserole and it's my favorite meal in the world. Well, the actual recipe calls for diced onions, but ever since I was little, I would beg my mom not to put them in. I can't stand onions.

So for Christmas this year, I asked for "Cheesy Potatoes, non-onion, please." And yesterday I came over to find a big batch fresh out of the oven! I scooped some onto my plate and noticed that some of those hashbrowns looked a little... "oniony." I said, "Mom. Did you...." and before I could finish my sentence, she said "No, Sarah, there's no onions."

So I took a bite. A big, cheesy, cornflaky...ONIONY... bite. I could taste them. I knew she snuck some in! (She's been known to do it in the past...) I looked at her with big, wide eyes and she knew she was caught.

She started laughing (which made me mad!) and she was like "Sarah, my word. Seriously. I put one tablespoon of a sweet onion in for flavor! You are like the princess and the pea."

My husband saw what was beginning to become a Christmas disaster and he stepped in and took my plate of Onion potatoes. He smiled and said "Mmmm, Delicious!" and started eating.

Now here's the kicker - Normally, I would have been fine. I would have smiled and said it was no big deal and even laughed a little. But I must have gotten a fresh batch of pregnancy hormones that morning for Christmas - because my eyes started welling up with tears! How ridiculous, I know! Over an onion!!!!!! What is wrong with me????

My mom felt so bad. And then I felt even more bad for making her feel bad! She said she'd make me a fresh batch of cheesy potatoes and I could come and get them tomorrow (which is now today.) I told her that wasn't necessary, but she insisted.

So over I came this morning, and I walked into the kitchen and my mom started laughing hysterically. She was at the kitchen counter, putting hashbrowns into a few bowls. "I've been caught again!" she said. "I give up!"

Turns out, when she went to the store to buy the hashbrowns for my special "non-onion" batch, she accidentally bought something called "Hashbrowns O'Brien" which has onions and peppers in it automatically! So I found her in the kitchen, sorting out tiny frozen potatoes and onions, one by one, into two separate bowls. She was trying to separate each microscopic piece to make up for yesterday! It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen - she was trying so hard. She even had her reading glasses on so she could see better! I was like "Aw, Mom! It's ok!" and she smiled and said "Do you have any idea how hard it is to distinguish between a tiny frozen hashbrown piece and a tiny frozen onion flake?"

We decided then and there to give up on Cheesy Potatoes. :-) It's just not going to happen. Not this year, at least.

It's so embarrassing writing that story! I mean, I know onions make people tear up, but usually not in the way that I just described! But the story is true, and I hope you're amused, because this is my life. :-)

Two more days until Olivia, (hopefully!)
Sarah

Emotions

Hello!

Just a quick update from my maternity leave: No baby yet. I still have 8 more days until my due date... I'm excited and nervous and happy and scared and every other emotion under the planet! I cry really easily this week - so it's a good thing I'm not on-air. I'd be a mess! It's good to have a little time to prepare mentally and emotionally, so I'm glad I have a few days to myself. I really miss being at work, though - I called Tom twice on Monday just to say "Hey!" and I think I call Joel (my husband) about 50 times a day at his work. I get so lonely - I'm not used to being at home during the day. I'm thankful for my cat!

Speaking of calling people, it's gotten to the point now where I can't even call my own Mom or Dad just to chat! Everytime they answer the phone and hear my voice, they say: "Hi Sarah!!! Is it time???" and I'm like "No, Dad. I was just calling to say hello!" and then he sounds disappointed! I even have friends and family that don't want me to call them anymore because they get too excited! So I'm banned from my phone. It's sad!

This week (baby or not) will prove to be a busy one - my birthday is on Friday and then there's Christmas Eve with family and Christmas day with more family! We'll see if Olivia decides to make her debut sometime in there - my husband is convinced she's going to be my birthday present (the 22nd). I'll keep you posted!

I hope your week leading up to Christmas is a good one!

Sarah

"It's NOT a vacation!"

Happy Wednesday! Do you have all your Christmas shopping done? Are your kids getting excited??? There's only, like, 12 more days to go! Man, it came around fast this year!

I'm writing to let you know that this Friday (Dec 15th) is my last day before I start maternity leave. So funny, people around the office keep asking when my "Vacation" starts - and I'm like.... "I don't know what you think I'm planning on doing for the next 6 weeks, but a tropical vacation isn't one of them." In fact, I'm going to miss Spirit so much! I love coming here everyday, so chances are, I'll probably just start bringing Olivia in once or twice a week after we get our "newborn/mom" routine down. I'll drop by and hang out with Tom and keep you updated on how things are going. I'll try and get Olivia to make little-baby-noises on-air for her radio debut :-) AND I can't wait to put little Olivia in Tom's arms and see him try and hold a baby! Now THAT'S going to be a sight! Remind me to bring my camera.

Now, I don't have Internet at home (Old-fashioned, I know) but I will keep up with this journal somehow. I might have Joel post for me, or my mom, and that way you can get some different perspectives from Olivia's dad and grandma. I might be too tired to type anyways!

Thank you so much for your prayers and comments - it blesses my heart! I look forward to sharing Olivia's birth story with you and posting newborn pictures. It won't be too much longer...

Love!
Sarah

Behind the Scenes

So this is our studio. Correction: This is me asleep in our studio. :-)

I'm exhausted today. Probably because it's Friday - and probably because I can't sleep at night anymore. It's the weirdest thing - because I TRY so hard to sleep, and I just lay there awake. I honestly think it's because I'm so excited. You know that feeling? Like the night before Christmas, or the night before the first day of school, or the night before your birthday as a little kid. I feel like it's "THAT" night, every night. And it keeps me up! So funny.

I'm gonna get lots of rest tonight though - because tomorrow we're gonna be out-and-about at Famous Footwear in Lynnwood. Fun! If you're in the area, please stop by! We'll be there from Noon - 2 pm and I would love to meet you. I'll be picking out some slippers and baby booties and I've got several Famous Footwear giftcards to give away... so join us! (See the Spirit 1053 website for directions)

Ok, back to my nap...

Sarah

Sniffling and Sneezing

Well, pass the Kleenex! This cold has hit me HARD! What a way to welcome in my ninth month of pregnancy, yeah? Sheesh.

I've been at home for the past five days, listening to Tom in the afternoon, talking to my radio as if I was talking to him :-). I'm glad to finally be back at work. I still keep sneezing and sniffing my nose, but I think I'm on the road to recovery. It's hard because you're not supposed to take certain medications when you're pregnant, and I've always loved Alka-Seltzer Cold medicine, and I can't have any of that! So I'm just trying to get through this naturally. My mom has been so helpful, she's been at my house nearly every day, making homemade soup and helping me keep the place tidy. I'm so thankful for her!

Soooooooo.... are you ready for the big announcement? I promised to reveal this little one's name! We've actually known for quite some time, and we've kept it a secret so far on-air. But I figured that since you've taken the time to find this journal online, well, then you deserve to know a little early. *grin.* Drumroll please............ her name will be Olivia! Joel and I were able to agree on Olivia from the get-go, so it was a really easy decision. No baby name books needed.

It got me to thinking, though: What a privlidge it is to name a person! I did a Google search the other day and found out the meaning, which I just love: Olivia's latin origon is "Olive Tree" - and Biblically, the olive tree is a symbol of fruitfulness, beauty and dignity. Something about that just strikes me - and as I begin to pray more and more over her life, I find myself praying those words specifically: Fruitfulness, beauty and dignity. I just can't wait to watch her life unfold! I'm just so amazed that God is going to entrust us with a daughter! I can't even imagine, if I have this much love for her now, what it's going to be like when I finally lay eyes on her.

Let it SNOW!

I'm such a fan of the snow! When I was a little girl, I'd crawl into my parents bed at 5 am and turn on the news...watching and waiting for my school to be among the list of closures. I'd squeal with delight when I realized my day would be filled with snowmen and sleds instead of math and books. As soon as the sun came up, I'd run out and grab every neighborhood kid I could find and off we'd go into the winter wonderland. The only thing that could lure us inside was hot chocolate!

Even now that I'm older, I'm still in love with the snow! Yesterday I felt so motivated by our little blizzard that I put up the Christmas tree (all the while listening to Spirit 105.3, of course). Given that this is Joel and my first Christmas in our house, we only have about 3 ornaments... two of which are from Starbucks :-) so I went to my mom's house and stole (ahem, borrowed) some of hers. Also, I was very impressed that our cat, Gracie, hasn't knocked anything over yet. We'll see if that's still in effect this evening when I get home from work.

As for this baby - she's about 4 1/2 weeks away from her little due date. It's so hard to predict if she'll be early or late, but my money's on early. Even some sweet gal at the grocery store this morning said "oooh, she looks low," which I've been hearing more of lately. So.... the countdown is in progress and I'll be sure to keep you updated!

And a special little exclusive: we've decided on her name, and I'm keeping it a secret on-air. But I'm gonna announce it in this journal in my next post if you'd like to know a little early. :-)

Sarah

Take a picture, it'll last longer

So today I got cornered in the hallway at work for an impromptu photo shoot. (Thanks alot, Kenna!)

Remember Hollie? She did the morning traffic with Scott and Sam - and now she's off living the dream in New York City! (We miss her!) Well, I guess she emailed some staff members, asking them to secretly snap a photo of me and this belly so she could see my progress now that I'm in the home stretch of pregnancy.

Imagine my surprise to be ambushed by paparazzi (Kenna, our community relations gal) as I made my way to the copy machine. SNAP! FLASH! She caught me.

See, I haven't felt so photogenic lately. Don't get me wrong; I love being pregnant, and I love this belly. But sometimes.....ok, alot of times, I'd rather not have the moment documented on film. Lately, I just haven't felt myself. I'm usually so exhausted in the morning that all I can muster is a messy ponytail in my hair and one of the same sweaters the staff has seen me in for the past few weeks (my wardrobe is severely limited these days.)

But.....Oh well. I'm gonna look on the bright side - because part of me is glad to have been ambushed by a camera. Why? Because I hear that someday I'll look back and treasure the photo. And hopefully by posting the picture I can encourage you if you're a little camera shy around the Holidays. Take the pictures with family and friends, even if you aren't feeling your most glamorous. Because someday you'll look back and be thankful to have captured the moment. At least, that's what I keep telling myself! :-)

Sarah

Nesting

I've heard about this "nesting instinct" for a while now. And then, last night, I experienced it in all it's irrational glory.

Now, I can't be the only one to experience this, can I? Imagine: You have a loooong day at work. You drive home, in bad traffic, in the dark and the rain. You're exhausted. All you want to do is lay down on the couch and relax. And then... you walk into your home and find shoes and socks to greet you at the front door, and dishes piled in the sink. The garbage needs to be taken out, and the cat has unrolled a roll of toilet paper and scattered pieces around the house. It's enough to push anyone to their breaking point, yes?

So I started to clean. But not normal cleaning. Rather, that crazy, stressed-out, "I-must-clean-and-sanitize-everything" kind of cleaning. Banging pots and pans as I thrust them into the dishwasher. Hectic vacuuming where it looks like someone pressed my "fast-forward button" and I'm doing everything at an elevated pace. Loading the washing machine to capacity, running up and down the stairs with piles of clutter, and starting to get out of breath. I felt like a mad woman! Cinderella on steroids or something.

Joel came home from work to find me scrubbing the bathroom floor in a frenzy with tears streaming down my face. It must have been such a comical sight, but thankfully he kept his laughter inside. He helped me up from my hands and knees and talked me down from my frantic state. He said things like "It doesn't all need to be cleaned right now..." (I kept crying) and "Let me help you" (crying still) and finally with a smirk, he said: "Sarah, you're a little tiny bit crazy right now. I don't know what to do with you." And the crying slowly turned into a chuckle which turned into laughter. And some more laughter. And then some more crying from me. And then I think I fell asleep.

Six more weeks to go!

A few friends of mine have been encouraging me to start a journal about my impending motherhood. Sooooooo... well, here I am. :-)

There are about six weeks left in this pregnancy (I'm due right around Christmas) and I feel as though I'm losing my mind! I am so excited about this baby... I can hardly wait to meet her! I feel like a little kid at Christmastime with an advent calender, just counting down the days. I'm glad the holidays are close (Thanksgiving is a week away! MMMmmmm) because that will help to pass the time. My belly is big and round like a basketball and I laugh when I catch glimpses of my reflection in darkened windows. My belly sticks out in all it's glory and I just love it.

It's hard to imagine what this little girl looks like - this ultrasound picture hardly does her justice. Yes, I can make out facial features and her little hand. (Doesn't it look like she's waving "Hello?") But to see her in person, face to face...I think that's what I'm most excited about. The moment I see her for the first time. I wonder if she'll have dark hair? I was born with a big ol' mop of black hair and then it all fell out and turned blonde. I was also born three weeks early - I wonder if this baby will do the same?

I'm glad Tom Pettijohn has patience with me during our on-air shifts! Sometimes I get cranky or moody and he's doing quite well with it! I'm sure that it's good practice for him - you know, if he and his wife decide to have kids anytime soon - because he'll be prepared for when Celeste (his wife) has the same wild mood swings. :-)

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for taking the time to read this - I look forward to posting more in the next few weeks. Feel free to comment and leave advice - it's very welcome! I'll take as much as I can get!

Sarah