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.