Also known as, “My husband bailed on me day”….or “stab me in the heart and twist it day”….or “rip my heart out and feed it to the dogs day”….or any other endless titles that you could possibly think up.

My husband moved out the Friday before Labor Day. I am soo utterly pissed!! I feel like he is giving up on our marriage and instead of supporting his family in hard times is just bailing because he can’t handle it.

Today, work sucked. It seemed like everyone wanted to know how my long weekend was…and all I could do is cry! I broke my cardinal rule for work the first time since being pregnant with Jillian, “Under no circumstances do you cry at work.” Only this time, I couldn’t blame it on hormones…I could not get anything done today. I am so heartbroken. I don’t know what to do or what I should do. I just know that I hurt, ALOT and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

I feel like the aliens came and body snatched my husband. The past year has been very trying and the way he is acting and has acted in the past six months has been so far out of his normal behavior that I am really thinking that he is not himself. I don’t know this person, the one that leaves his wife and his 18 month old daughter because working through our marital issues is too hard for him.

I don’t think our problems and our fighting was that different from the rest of the world. Married couples fight, it is unfortunately a stage of marriage. Sometimes it takes counseling to get past it. I can only hope that he will go with me. This is ripping up Jillian so badly. Almost every night since Friday, she has woken up at 9PM and cried for an hour to an hour and a half straight where no amount of comfort could console her.

I can’t believe he is doing this to us and to her. It is so unfair for Jillian and it is scarring her. The first 3 years of life are the most important for a child’s development emotionally…at 12 months Mommy couldn’t do anything for her because of the car accident and now at 18 months Daddy leaves. My poor little girl. When we get home, she walks over to his side of the couch and just stands there looking at his seat knowing he is supposed to be there. After her bath, she runs out to the living room to run to him and stops short because he is not there. It is so sad and it breaks my heart that he is not here with us.

And despite all that he has done and caused by leaving, I still love him, I miss him badly and I want him to come home.

She’s got Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease! This morning when I tried to do “Little Piggies” she screamed and I noticed a rash on her feet and toes…then on her hands and in and around her mouth! UGH!! Poor baby! I finally got her down tonight around 11:30pm thanks to some Benadryl for her rashes. Anyhow, I hope she starts feeling better tomorrow, the first day of the rashes has to be the worst.

At least the cookie tossing seems to be over, although now she doesn’t want to eat because her mouth is sore. The doctor said we could give her pudding, ice cream, popsicles and mac n’ cheese kind of stuff…so hopefully she will start eating a little more tomorrow. I’m worried that she isn’t getting enough, but at least she isn’t dehydrated…which often happens with HFM because they don’t want to eat or drink anything.

Maybe I’ll get sleep again someday.

I’ve been dealing with a sick little girl all day today! I just got her down for the night…I think. Lots of cookie tossing, high fevers, and delusional fits of rage today…I’m hoping tomorrow is better. On the bright side, I get a break from work…but we all know what happens when the break is over…swampville!

The doctor said she should be fine by Monday, so I’m hoping we get through this and I can get back to work before the ship sinks and the mass exodus of mice starts. I can’t figure out where she picked this virus up…it might have been those trips to Disneyland or the plane ride to SoCal and back…or the many things she tries to pick up off the ground and put in her mouth….you can’t catch every morsel Toddlers try to ingest, you just hope you have caught them all. I just hope that I’m not next with the fevers and cookie tossing…so I’ve been washing my hands like I’m a germa-phobe since that is my one and only defense.

Ok, so I mentioned how they screwed up by giving me a blank disc…and they were not that friendly or helpful when I went in to get my low-resolution CD that I paid for. Well, the freaking saga continues…this morning, I get an email that states the following:

Dear Valued Picture People Customer,

Thank you for the opportunity Picture People was recently given to capture your most meaningful moments. We value the trust you place in us to create lasting images that reflect your unique personality.

We wanted to let you know that, due to circumstances beyond our control, our studios located at 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., San Jose, CA and 925 Blossom Hill Rd., San Jose, CA will be closed effective August 21, 2011. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

Through the studio closing date, Portrait Club members will have access to all images taken during their 12 month membership, and recent customers will have access to images taken in the past 60 days. Simply visit the studio to purchase these portraits.

After the closing date, these same images will be available by special request through September 3, 2011. To make a request, contact our studio at 304 Hillsdale Mall, San Mateo, CA 94403, (650) 377-0124.

Images will only be available by special request until September 3, 2011. All images will be removed at the end of this promotion period.

As a valued Picture People customer, we would like to provide you with the following special offers available at these two studios through August 20, 2011.

• Half price on all reprints
• Half price on all high resolution CDs
• 75% off all frames and custom framed photographs*

Additionally, any special image requests through September 3, 2011 will also receive:

• Half price on all reprints
• Half price on all high resolution CDs

We hope you will continue to choose Picture People for your photography needs. This nearby location is open and they look forward to meeting you soon:

• 304 Hillsdale Mall, San Mateo, CA 94403, (650) 377-0124

We know you have many choices when it comes to your photography needs. Thank you again for choosing Picture People to highlight what makes your story special.

With Gratitude,
John Johnson, President and COO

The major thing that sucks about this is that I am a Portrait Club Member and I just renewed my membership last weekend…and now I have to drive waaaaay out of my way to take advantage of it! SUCKS!!! If they would have mentioned this last week, I would have bought the high resolution CD (which they had a 50% off coupon on and neglected to tell me) and been done with it, no Portrait Club Membership renewal. I can’t tell you how pissed I was!! I also never got the Portrait Club Member card because, “they didn’t have any.” But they said if I went to another studio, I would have to have that studio call their studio to confirm my membership…well, the studio is closing…so, WTF?

I’m so over it!! I think we are just going to do our own pictures with our good camera for now. Then I get the high resolution CD for free and print everything at Costco for 30 bucks.

I finally took Jillian to get pictures done. The last time was before she was a year old. Anyhow, she was a lot more work during this photo session than she was in the past. The photographer said that her age is one of the toughest to get to cooperate. She wanted to play with Mommy and run out into the mall. Jillian was mildly interested in the backdrops, mostly when the photographer changed them.

Anyhow, she was quite the little ham! The photos turned out adorable! The only mess up on Picture People’s part was that they gave me a blank CD, so I had to go back the next day to get our pictures on the CD. That took an hour, because they are always insanely busy on the weekends and they are not very good at crowd control or addressing their customers’ concerns…it always feels unorganized as to who is taking pictures next, but they do an excellent job on portraits…so I guess it is worth the hassle as long as you don’t go there too often.