<p>We drive away in 5 hours…maybe. I’ve been up all night with S1, who’s been violently throwing up every hour on the hour since midnight. I’m really not sure that I can drive 10 hours tomorrow on no sleep, even if he feels up to it by morning. I may end up having H drive out with S2’s stuff tomorrow, and then S1 and I driving out Thursday. :(</p>
<p>mihcal - I love the move in details, and how great everything sounded according to her skype visit with little sis. You must be feeling great! </p>
<p>MizzBee - that’s sweet that S is texting so much. I’m sure you’re right and he’ll get busier and more settled in soon!</p>
<p>oldfort - glad to hear your D is fine in her new surroundings! I’m pretty sure you got your translation wrong though - “I am fine, stop worrying.” is actually code for “I’m fine because I’ve got the power of the wackaloon behind me so nothing can go wrong!”</p>
<p>snowflake - hugs to you! You’ll survive S going off to college, but I know exactly what you mean about it hitting you. That happened to me yesterday also. I took a nap after we got the cars packed, and when I woke up, it just kind of hit me that S won’t be walking in the door most afternoons after school with his grin, opening the frig and looking through the pantry and complaining that we don’t keep good snack food in the house. I feel better knowing that I felt it even stronger the first time around with S1, but it quickly got normal and I really don’t even feel a twinge now about him being off at school. I miss him, but it doesn’t make me sad. It’s the change that’s hardest - once you make it through the change, the new normal really isn’t bad. I promise. :)</p>
<p>NervousNellie1 - I hope your S’s neck feels better quickly!</p>
<p>I just can’t believe we’ve got a stomach bug messing up our schedule. :mad::mad::mad:</p>
<p>Oh PN- I am so sorry to hear about the stomach thing. I guess it is better for it to happen today rather than when he is alone at school. </p>
<p>I love all these move-in stories as well. Keep em coming, and don’t be afraid to give us all the crazy. Laughter is the best medicine for empty nest I find.</p>
<p>First half of lauch is happening here today. D1 the junior heads out with her roomate who has lived with us this summer. D2 gets her going-away dinner tonight - little lamb chops on the grill, summer corn on the cob, last visit to the local frozen yogurt spot. It is about to get very quiet around the house. We will see them both next week after D2’s pre-orientation backpacking adventure, so it does not seem quite final yet.</p>
<p>PN, I hope things are a little better this morning… and I hope it was just something he ate so he can be over it more quickly than if it were the flu… Take care!</p>
<p>My guy isn’t up yet since we’re leaving at lunchtime. I hope he doesn’t have a similar experience…</p>
<p>Yowza - today is the day we begin the launch. I’m happy to hear all the stories - I’m so glad skype exists, and I think it’s very sweet that the sibs skype each other without prompting from mom and dad.</p>
<p>PN - I sure hope your son is feeling a bit better today! That’s just icky.</p>
<p>I took an otc sleeping pill last night to help me sleep through for once in my life- I’m more stubborn than any sleeping pill - I still managed to start tossing and turning at 3am. I think I need an elephant tranquilizer.</p>
<p>Did I mention my crying putting labels on the boxes out in the garage? It’s amazing how quickly it hits me. We managed to pack S in under an hour. We have a bunch of white boards around the house - I just took one and wrote down all the stuff we wanted to make sure he packed and it made it much easier once he started assembling everything. It gave me an outlet for my control freakiness and made it easier for him to decide how much of what to take.</p>
<p>PN hope your son recovers quickly and you’re on your way. Love the siblings Skype conversation. I have a feeling that’s how we’re going to know what our S is doing – by what he reports to his sister.</p>
<p>We leave for the airport Friday at 7 am and no clothes have made it into any waiting suitcases yet! Today I will sit on him to get it done. Yesterday he had the second Gardasil shot and I was also busy with other household and dog issues ( from being away all summer) but today is getrdone day. My local friend says that 2 weeks of clothing is not enough. I may see if we can fit another weeks worth in the bag. I hope that he can store one large suitcase under the bed, for travel home at Christmas break? He will also keep his med size llbean rolling duffle for thanksgiving and fall breaks. He can take that one as a carry on the plane. </p>
<p>I feel disorganized and not ready but there may be other worse issues. We in Florida are now tracking tropical storm Isaac, which may well hit our home on Sunday. I hope DH and I can get back home on Sunday before the storm hits and “batten down the hatches”!</p>
<p>^wow, seiclan, yours is cutting it close, even for me, an eternal procrastinator. Hope Isaac isn’t a trouble maker.</p>
<p>PN, hope your s feels better. A stomach bug is the most inconvenient thing to have while traveling! Thankfully you’re driving!</p>
<p>Skype is wonderful but be careful about walking into a conversation. I didn’t know lilD was skyping her big sis and I walked into her room in my pjs and a turbie twist on my head. Her teammates were saying hi to lilD and the dog. Lo and behold, I saw myself on the monitor and I heard D say, " good grief, mom".</p>
<p>I’m still on eastern time but actually liking getting up early without a struggle. Time to tackle D’s room. The tears will flow today, I just know it. </p>
<p>Best to all of you who are launching this week. D2 “launched” this weekend, but D1 still at home till mid September. We are within 1.5 hrs drive, so nothing as stressful as those families who are driving hours or flying across the country. Still, it is very strange not to have my younger one home, because she is really quite a homebody. In addition, we just lost our dog due to some strange, unforeseen medical complications; she was young, so our expectation was that she would be the remaining child… Funny, how expectations can come back to get ya! </p>
<p>Now, just heard that management at work is proposing cutting our pay by 15%, not paying holiday pay, and cutting vacation… this after no cost of living over 7+ years (we’re state funded, so not that the management is evil, the budget situation is… that said, don’t know what else they’ve thought to cut before going after people’s earnings. We don’t make much as it is; it is more a labor of love…) So, I may want to get busy looking for other jobs, either to replace this one or as a second job to recoup the earnings lost… may well be that the empty nest will be tolerable, because i will be out of the house at too many hours to notice (e.g., working multiple jobs)</p>
<p>Mamita, sorry to hear about your pet. It sounds like you’re dealing with quite a bit right now. Hugs and good wishes to you. Take care of yourself!</p>
<p>PN - I hope your S recovers quickly and that you are able to get the launch underway.</p>
<p>I am back in SoCal after launching D2 in NYC. We actually moved D in last Saturday. It was a quick trip and we had help from D1 who already lives and goes to school in NYC as well as D1’s bf. All the boxes of linens we sent beforehand arrived and we took a taxi from D1’s apartment with all of D2’s suitcases and stuff we purchased at Target when we arrived. Her roommate and the other two girls in the apartment are really great and D felt at home right away with them. Her roommate’s Dad is in the city about once a week for work if the girls need help with anything.</p>
<p>The dorm room is very spacious for the two of them. They lofted their beds and there is lots of storage for D to keep all of her shoes in a bin that won’t fit in the closet (she brought 30 pairs from SoCal!) as well as a bin for sweaters an heavy clothes. Her roommate told D she was welcome to hang things on her side of the closet if she needed more room. This girl is a gem especially since my clothes horse D brought so much!</p>
<p>Only one of the girls in the apartment has a meal plan, the other two are cooking their own food like D. They all made pasta and salad together for dinner last night. Today they don’t have any orientation events they have to attend so the girls are hitting the thrift stores in the area. One of the suitemates is a major “thrifter” and was showing the girls all her finds so they were all anxious to shop with her. I had a text from D today that she bought a cute blazer with the price tag of $85 for $15.</p>
<p>D was a bit overwhelmed after the first day of move in and wondered if she made the right decision coming to school so far from home. After we talked and she had a good nights sleep she was feeling better. I told her that it is an adjustment for every kid going to college and that it is normal to have ups and downs.</p>
<p>We had a fun celebrity sighting just 2 blocks from D’s dorm on Sunday night. We were trying to get a taxi to head to dinner in the Village and it was taking awhile. We noticed that gathering on the street corner by us were about 10 people with cameras and telephoto lenses. When a doorman just a quarter block ahead of us got a taxi they all started snapping pictures and we looked over to see Katie Holmes and her daughter Suri Cruise get in the taxi! Katie is rehearsing for a Broadway show and her apartment is 2 blocks from D2. When D2 told her roommates they were so excited and are hoping for more celebrity encounters. The Kardashians are suppose to be filming their new season very close to the school and D and all the roommates are big reality TV fans!</p>
<p>D has called me several times since I left and is texting me a few times a day also. I know this will probably slow down once school begins next week, but it is nice that she is in contact so much now.</p>
<p>My daughter’s first day of classes are today. She has French, Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union and College Algebra.</p>
<p>My youngest began her Jr year and just walked in the door, fairly foul mood, stating she hates 2 of her teachers. I am familiar with the one - very very conservative and makes her views well known to the kids, writes a weekly column in our paper mostly harping on how rotten and disrespectful kids are today. Such a positive gal. </p>
<p>I am at a loss of what to do. Obviously not going to request schedule change but not sure how to encourage her…</p>
<p>I look forwrd to reading about your launches everyone. </p>
<p>Today is parent orientation. I am stuck in the hotel room. In the middle of the night, I developed dizziness and then this morning vomiting as well (yuk, just not a better way to put it). I took meclazine and am now able to drink water. What the heck? This is not what I envisioned. Heading back to bed…DH is attending the orientation.</p>
<p>We moved her in on Monday morning (she is not in my old room). The roommate showed up early afternoon and seemed very nice.</p>
<p>At 3 PM there was an all student/parent welcoming session. When it was over students went to meet their seminar leader, who will also serve as their advisor until they declare a major.</p>
<p>During that meeting, the parents met with staff from student affairs. After a quick introduction, we split off into small groups to ask questions Parents in our group were all very reasonable.</p>
<p>After that meeting, parents went to meet the advisor while students got some hang out time.</p>
<p>The last thing was cookies and lemonade on the lawn. DD had asked us to text her when we were done with advisor. She appeared from the residential side of campus in the midst of big herd of students. It was pretty cool. She actually spent the dessert hanging with them so our good bye was a quick hug on the lawn.</p>
<p>As we were leaving D2 put herself between DW and me and gave us big hugs.</p>
<p>Today was my kid’s first day of college classes. Got texts from her today asking what we use to make margherita pizzas and to ask if it’s OK to give someone cough medicine and tylenol together. She said several kids there haven’t gotten colds & chills in the past week. So we had to have a repeat discussion about ingredient labels on medications, using the health clinic, fever issues, etc. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, I still have to tell you some move-in stuff & I promise I’m bringing a lil crazy! </p>
<p>Got text yesterday AM that her laptop died badly. I’ll have to get new one tonight.</p>
<p>We launched D1 today at the University of Maryland at College Park—she moves in early today because she is in a special honors program called Gemstone and they start a 2 day camp tomorrow. Early this morning she was debating which violin and violin case to bring. (We have two violins, but she has been borrowing mine because my violin has new strings and soundpost is already adjusted. Sheet music containing Allegro and Praeludium by Kreisler and some other violin works also went into her violin case.) So she took my violin and at the last minute took an old picture (of me playing my violin that I have in my case) and put it in her case. I was touched. :-)</p>
<p>Somehow we managed to fit all her belongings into one car. We left for UMD shortly after rush hour on the Capital Beltway was over. DH, D1 and D2 and I got to her dorm and spent about 3 hours unpacking. We uncovered the carpet, spread it on the floor and put together her bedding. At the end of 3 hours, her side of the room looked a little more homey. We had to purchase an extension cord for the fan, but other than that everything went well. D1 and roomie both chose to loft their beds so there is some storage space left. Roomie probably will not arrive until this weekend.</p>
<p>D2 (who starts high school next week) had been teary-eyed for the last couple of days (both sisters are very close), and finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. DH and I let the girls alone for a while while we both went downstairs and put all the empty boxes and plastic wrap into the dumpster. I found a tub of cranberry chip cookies (courtesy of the Gemstone staff) in the basement lounge and took 3 cookies upstairs. Both girls brightened up considerably after seeing the cookies.</p>
<p>The dining hall near her dorm was closed, so we all walked to the Student Union and ate a late lunch there. </p>
<p>We had to leave early because D2 had color guard practice. So there was one last group hug, and we left her in her room still unpacking.</p>
<p>Keep all the launch stories coming — I’ve enjoyed reading other’s launch stories so far!</p>
I feel better knowing that I felt it even stronger the first time around with S1, but it quickly got normal and I really don’t even feel a twinge now about him being off at school. I miss him, but it doesn’t make me sad. It’s the change that’s hardest - once you make it through the change, the new normal really isn’t bad. I promise. :)</p>