Arrivals, Changes and Adulthood

Its been awhile ladies and gents so let me fill you in as much as I can on the last couple months...I graciously anticipated the arrival of my new bundle of joy while staying with my brother and Aunt Sydney which was a wonderful and very appreciated situation so that I could be stable and get back on my feet. Around 10pm when my brother and I were watching...Rescuers Down Under (in our defense Bella was there who was 3 at the time,...who am i kidding we love that movie and she was already sleeping), anyway around 10 pm, I came back from the kitchen after taking my iron pill only to stop mid stride and look up and say "oh"...My little brother immediately paused the movie and said "oh great did your water just break", I said either that or i peed on myself and we bantered back and forth about what I was suppose to do next meanwhile I waddled to the bathroom and he turned the movie back on. The next 2 hours were quite silly, I called the docter who said to come in right away and then proceeded to freak out attempt to wash crib sheets, took a shower washed and dried and straightened my  hair and my brother went and picked up Angie. Needless to say I arrived at the hospital around two hours later.. At 10:27 am on December 12, 2012 after 12 hours of later Mia Josephine Cunningham graced us with her arrival. Born naturally with no c-section Mia came out with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice and tied in a knot, the doctor told us he'd never seen anything like it she truly is a miracle. So grateful to my doctor who worked so quickly that I didn't even know about this until after she was in my arms. The umbilical cord could not be saved even to donate cord blood but thank god my baby was okay.

After a few days I was allowed to take her home, only to return to the hospital two days later for another week because Mia had jaundice and an infection! I stayed in the pediatric section of the hospital at INOVA with her and slept on a pull out chair, I wasn't about to leave for a minute. Her uncle came to visit often and brought me food and my computer so I was able to finish my Masters program online while I was there. I received my diploma a few weeks after we got home :) They ran way to many tests and said there was something wrong with Mia's kidney however later they released us. As of right now Mia is a super healthy super amazing and very well behaved 5 month old. Yes well behaved!! This child barely cries she is an angel and yah I know every parent says that but Mia is my everything so I will say it too. At 5 months she weighs ten lbs. Shes very little they are still worried and I need to get her kidney looked at again shortly but I know in my heart she is just fine.

Since coming home, I have taken a new job and Mia and I relocated to Roanoke, Virginia. I am working as a therapist/clinician in the schools down here and just moved into my very own one bedroom apartment with Mia. Its just enough space for the two of us (for those who aren't aware, I have separated myself from Mia's father, he is still in her life but needs to do some growing up). Its been a difficult and wonderful change. I feel like so much has changed the past few months I am still trying to catch up but so far it has been a wonderful journey. Mia was and is the most wonderful surprise I could of ever gotten. Someone was looking out for me. I believe I have emailed everyone are new address but you can always email me if you don't have it! I'll leave you with some love and pictures.....xoxo

New Home

So its been a lot of big news here! Its been a little over two weeks now that David and I have been in our new home. But let me back track a little bit for those of you I haven't been able to talk to. I went to the beach with the family as usual this year the first week of August. As many of you know David had been trying to get up here from Texas for quite some time but it wasn't an easy trek with a lot of stuff, two kids, and lack of money or a job. Well by the time I returned home from the beach David was here! I left early Friday night and drove home in time to pick him up and attend the wedding of two of my dearest friends in Roanoke, VA. It was a wonderful weekend, I couldn't of been happier (even with the addition of bad sinuses and a massive earache). We stayed with my cousins Heather and Trevor who were so wonderful to have us and it was fun to get the extra time with them and their little one as well. Then we returned home to find a place to live, a job for david, day care and move in all of a matter of weeks...Of course I stressed out.
Fortunately, searching on craigslist I found a few places we could manage but this one was my favorite and sounded two good to be true.  A two bedroom apartment with porch and washer and dryer right on the water in Quantico, VA. Hmm, close to work- check, on the water - check, price =cheap - check! Seriously, I was determined that this little place would be in the bad neighborhood of triangle where I work because of the price but I was greatly surprised.
Our new little home actually turned out to be a 2 bedroom duplex that was old school style built in the 1940's on the marina and it is actually on base of Quantico! For those of you who don't know, Quantico is a marine base that was built around the small teensy town of Quantico (talk about security no crime here!). The duplex has a small back yard and front yard, a basement and a porch that we will soon be screening in. The landlord is wonderful  and told us we can make any changes to the house and anything we fix or update will be taken out of our rent.
It has not by any means been easy transitioning from a single woman living with her cousin to living with my boyfriend and basically becoming instant step mom to two children and managing school full time and work full time. Fortunately, I have an amazing boyfriend and when I break down in tears in the middle of the kitchen because the window pane fell out of the window or we don't have enough milk he graciously gives me a hug tells me he loves and makes me laugh. I love it ( minus my dramatic breakdowns which will hopefully soon be gone).
The apartment is old fashioned just like I grew up in (my mothers taste) with old doorknobs, radiators and of course beautiful small pane wood flooring. Of course the previous tenant didn't take very good care of it so we have a lot of work to do but its exciting. Thanks to my aunt sydney we have some furniture including a dresser, couch, bookshelf and bed for Aubrey and Katie found a perfect toddler bed for little miss Briella. We still need a lot of stuff but its coming along nicely. David started a job with Craftsman auto body (thanks to my cousin mike) so we hopefully won't be dirt poor for long. Once we get on our feet we hope to paint and decorate and gain more for our house.
In the mean time I am bringing him over to the bright side of vegetarianism. He even asked me to make him tofu tonight and likes my almond milk. :) Of course the kids love it too. Below are some pictures and more to come soon. If you would like to update your address  book our new address is: 200 Potomac Ave #101 Quantico, VA 22134.
Peace, Love and Serenity,
Sam

Spring Sphere....No Way.

Times they are a changing..did anyone if not everyone hear about the spring sphere? What a ridiculous concept. Well I'm old fashioned so it will always be an Easter egg to me. Well its been months since my last chance to update so I guess I should have a lot of interesting stories to tell...unfortunately not too interesting though. The last few months have been a whirlwind blur. School has been wonderful but very intense and it won't stop this summer. I ended my most recent Substance Abuse class and am waiting to hear my final grade and my next class starts tonight at midnight. This class will be Social Work with Older Adults which I actually feel is going to be quite challenging to me since I am deathly afraid of the whole getting older, death thing. Another decision I have made is that I desperately need to get my anxiety in check. I had to stop Zumba for the time being because my work and school schedule just couldn't fit it in but I am hoping to possibly get back into it this summer... we'll see. Until than I ordered a yoga dvd so I'm going to do yoga in the evening to try to calm myself down. I also got this wonderful app on my Iphone called Get Running that is working me through a program to build endurance and teaching me how to run. Sounds silly but I like it and I've been wanting to start running for awhile now.
Lets see aside from school work is been crazy busy but I am grateful for a wonderful supervisor who has finally made it possible for me to get the hours I need. I see to be much more motivated when I am busy these days. I have still be looking on the horizon for something else, I love my job but low salary and millions of miles I put on my car is wearing on me. Other than that the rest of the time about a measly 1% that I am not working or studying I'm talking to David or my mother on the phone. Now that spring is hear I am going to be even more busy fitting everything into a crazy schedule. This summer Pamela and I are joining her mother and cousin for a trip to Disney World which I am completely excited for. I am so fortunate because this was a great surprise to me from Pamela and her mother and really will give me an opportunity to relive my childhood which we all need....well I try to relive my childhood daily but you know what I mean. Haha.
With the upcoming changes and the busy schedule I don't know what is next to come but I hope something good. My 3 year review is on Friday and although I don't know what will happen I would really love to have a good review and can't help in my heart but to cross my fingers for a promotion. In other news I have been sad to watch some wonderful people in my life fall on some rocky paths. Its been difficult for me to stand back and observe without trying to jump in and "save" as I use to do. I think that this year has been full of good learning experiences for me and its only been a few months. I look forward to whats ahead. I truly believe that things happen for a reason, whatever is thrown my way I know I can handle because I've done alright this far... My goals starting this week are to continue to be positive, continue to keep my 4.0 gpa, and work my butt off to get running this year. Oh and don't forget the wonderful news that Obama is in fact...an American..Haha..Mr. Trump sure knows how to make an ass out of himself. :)

I enjoy goofing off. :)

Peace and Serenity,
Me <3

Lucky..

The past months have flown by, I have been so busy with school work, zumba and other activities that I can't believe its January already. Aside from this I am unbelievably happy. I don't think Ive been this happy in my whole life! Im going to tell a story to explain my current situation. I had a friend in highschool, he was very close to me but I moved to Oregon. We talked on the phone alot and he was there through some of he rough times but somewhere in highschool we lost touch. In college I found him again we talked we caught up and we once again became great friends. At this time he was living in Texas so again I lost touch with him. A year later he was in the army stationed in Aberdeen, MD and we reconnected again except this time he had a kid. He got married and now has two kids and we of course lost touch and he ended up having a bad time and a divorce. Now comes the good part...God yet again brought us together. Now all of you know me and I am not one to speak out at all religiously I keep such things to myself. But there is no way this is coincidence. I am so happy and so lucky to have this wonderful man brought back into my life. I am blogging about this because he is so important to me I want you all to know. I just got back from spending 4 wonderful days in Texas with him, Katie (my best friend) and his two beautiful children. I couldn't be happier. Now all I have to do is wait for him to come home which is a work in progress because moving is costly and not easy. I wanted to share how happy I was and I am sorry if its completely corny but I have never wanted all of you to meet someone so badly and hopefully one day soon you will. Other than that school is wonderful and challenging I am busy and Zumba is keeping me somewhat fit. So far 2011 has turned out to be amazing and I finally feel like my past is behind me and I have a whole new life to look forward to. I am motivated and happy and can't wait to see what comes next. I love you all :)

peace and love
Sammy

Autumn is my Favorite

So time has just flown by since August. I can't believe its already a couple days from my all time favorite holiday and I almost decided not to do anything. We'll see if I make it out with friends the saturday before. Depending how much work I have to do I may not. But, if I do go....I am going as a very awesome 70's glam girl and if only I could find some old school roller skates to make it that much more disco it would be awesome! Anyway, although this past couple months have been pretty rough I have the best news first....I got an A in my first class of graduate school! It may sound silly but I have a good habit of not putting forth as much effort as I can usually and I think I have finally grown out of that. I never expected to get an A my first class so I've been smiling nonstop all day. Of course my new course started today as well, Introduction to Advanced Practice, and it looks harder so I don't have much time to relax. I have to say I've been really grateful for family these months. My cousin especially has been really there for me while I have been dealing with my mother and her illnesses. Good news is I got her some services so she now gets meals on wheels and some other things that should help to make her feel better. I miss her dearly and its been harder then usual to talk to her especially when she sounds so much more like the mother I remember.
Along those lines I have been searching for jobs in Portland, OR. like mad and I am not hearing anything. I don't know if I will considering I have a Virginia address and so they may be just passing over my resume. Lets hope not though and I'll keep a positive outlook if everyone will cross their fingers for. I really feel like I should be closer to my mom. In a selfish way it will greatly reduce the stress I have from not being close enough to do much when she needs help. Also though I really miss Oregon, and I feel like I would have some awesome opportunities out there.
Anyway, nothing much else is new except for chopping my bangs off a couple weeks ago. Chris says that I look Retro so hopefully it shall go good with my costume. In his news, he is back on the road again and playing. He just told me he's somewhere in Illinois currently. I am still so proud of him and you all should check out his show if he comes in town. All the guys are super talented and so much fun!
Thats all for now folks. Heres a few fun pics. :)

Chris playing in philly

lily and I

Peace, Love, and Serenity,
Sam.

GRAD SCHOOL - Week 1

Alright guys, so I have officially started my first class of graduate school! I am now officially... Samantha Cunningham - graduate student full time and counselor full time!! Can we say Eeeeeeek! I couldn't have been more giddy on Monday. Seriously I woke up early just to see if my class was available online (6:00am). I just can't believe at this point in my life. Okay so moving on my graduate courses are set up so I take 2 classes per semester. I take one class at a time (but don't think easy yet)... each class is 8 weeks. Thats right, I only get 8 weeks to absorb all I can from a class that takes normal students a full semester. So for future notice when I don't call you back right away thats why. So my first class is so far pretty interesting. Its called integrating mirco and macro practices, pretty self explanatory. Right now we are discussing the differences between the individual part of social work and the advocating part. I think my school is amazing already! Their mission statement revolves around the World Health Organizations view of health, basically stating everyone has equal rights to not only physical health but also emotional and psychological as well. If you didn't know by now I have somewhat of a soft spot for international social work and WHO affiliates with UNICEF.   Anyway so far its been nice to be super busy but everyone at the office says I wont feel that way for long. I made a couple decisions for myself before starting that I hope to keep. One of them is that I don't want to loose track of my health. I promised myself that I am going to continue to make time to eat healthy and shop healthy even if that means waking up at 6am to run down to the farmers market on saturday. So far so good I hit up Whole Foods and Trader Joes last weekend and Ive got plenty. The other part of this is to continue to exercise somewhat regularly so I don't gain all my weight back while in school. So my friend lily and I decided to check out the Xsportfitness gym down the street and sign up for Zumba classes. Well we joined the gym and I am psyched! Its 24 hours, and with our membership (which for this area was super cheap) we have full range access to any classes we want any time. All we have to do is show up! We also have full range access to a pool a huge huge gym and full spa services including a salon. So I feel like I am ready for my new adventures and comfortable that I will also have a 24 hour outlet for my stress. Anyway I need to leave you all with that and go back to my studying. I will try to update and let you guys in about the ups and downs of grad school. I have to say its been the best starting a new chapter in my life. Wish me luck..I'll need it.

ps. To my oregon family I miss you guys so much already!

peace and love,

Sammy

Dreams do come true..

Its amazing how things come when you least expect it. When your down in the dumps, exhausted grumpy and ready to just give up and give in to the evil little thoughts floating in the back of your head that your not good enough and that bad things happen to good people something amazing comes along. It kicks you in the ass and smacks you in the face and its says "why would you EVER give up or given in to that negative mentality"!!!! Well that smack in the face I got was a dream coming true, one at least as I have many. Yesterday about lunch time Im in the office and I recieve an email saying "Congratulations". I got accepted to the University of New England's graduate studies online program for Masters of Social Work, Advanced Standing!!!!!!! Now at the time I abruptly interrupted a meeting I was in with my ass. director, director and one of our payroll specialists to shout out "I got in!!!!". Fortunately I am very close with these amazing people at my office (another blessing in my life) and we all laughed and I received some good hugs :). Now heres what you don't know... or may know if you know me...Im an emotional person. Ha! I can hear all the "really sam? Like we didn't notice". Well on the way home I cried, in between calling friends and family, I cried happy tears for so many reasons that I am sure no one may understand. The thing is I never thought I would be here. I was once a 15 year old girl crying in a bathroom thinking to myself that nothing was ever going to get better and I remember that agonizing and desperate lost feeling. I cried because I am so happy and so lucky and so terrified  and excited all at the same time to take this next step. I cried because without the family that took me in and dealt with my attitude problems and anger saved my life and gave me this chance. I cried because I know my dad would be proud. I cried because maybe I really can do all these things I want to do. I was relieved. I finally am starting to become the person I want to be, the person I use to be before the chaos and drama and anger, the one I thought was lost at age 7. I know that many people are probably going to laugh at me for feeling so strongly about this amazing chance that I am getting, but I don't care. I wouldn't be here in any way without my friends and family (this includes the amazing teachers and leaders in my life). I love you all. I hope you read this and understand that each one of you have made me stronger and have touched my life and that without that constant push, the love, the reaffirmation that I am a woman of value (amyjo), I would be no where, if even alive and thats the truth. So, here I go.. Starting August 30th, I will be a full time employee and full time graduate student with no time and probably a great deal of lack of sleep...All we do now is wait to see if I can hack it and know Im going to give it my best! :)

*two of my amazing coworkers and I. :)