This is Kate about five minutes before I put her down for her nap.

She looks about like I felt. Today we had one of those mornings. I tell myself everyone has days like this, but I'm not really sure it's true, so just to make sure we're on the same page, let me tell you about it. Before 9 a.m., Kate had several emotional meltdowns over nothing as far as I could tell. Everything was a conflict, everything was drama. Even though we had to be somewhere by 9:30 a.m. I stupidly didn't get up and get dressed before she woke up, so my entire morning was spent trying to get things stabilized enough that I could actually go get a shower.Inevitably every time I would get close, the phone would ring or Kate would ask for something else. As I was leaving the living room for my fifth attempt at this, Kate, who was running around in circles in the living room, ran herself straight into the front of our entertainment center. Much screaming and kissing of boo-boos ensued. She wasn't seriously hurt, but it took a strawberry sucker to calm her down. I actually got in the shower at about 8:55 a.m. Somehow, we got to our 9:30 a.m. commitment, survived it and returned to the house around 11 a.m., hungry and cranky all around. When I started listing lunch options to Kate, another inexplicable meltdown started. I completely lost my patience and went on a rant I'm not proud of, but in the process of counting to ten to try to regain my composure I remembered something that has worked in the past and asked her if she wanted to go take a break in her room for a few minutes while I fixed lunch. To my shock, she readily agreed, so I took her to her room, helped her climb into her crib, and at her request, shut the door behind me. Honestly, I think we were just stressing each other out. She spent a few minutes in there alone while I got lunch ready. When she called for me, I went and got her and gave her a big hug. She ate lunch, got out of her high chair and promptly laid down on the floor a few feet in front of the chair to watch some Sesame Street in the minutes remaining before nap time. I put a blanket over her, laid down on the floor too, and took this photo. I find it kind of sad and comical at the same time that she's lying there looking so completely exhausted while wearing a fairy princess dress up outfit complete with wings on the back. Dangles the Monkey makes a good pillow in these situations.

I don't know what the moral of that story is except that you know it's one of those days when you're both laid out on the floor in a heap by 12:45. Now I'm just praying she gets a good nap in and we can start over. Maybe I'll take a nap too.