Hi, this is Monica Packer from About Progress, and you're listening to The Messy Middle,

a monthly series where I share some of my own messy middle, so you can see what progress looks

like for a real woman in real time. Welcome to February.

I always begin this segment by sharing what's happening in the Packer household.

January was a little rough.

And when I say a little, I mean a lot.

I don't typically feel the January dreads that a lot of people do, but I definitely did

this month.

It started with, you know,

a couple of my kids got really sick during Christmas break, but right after they went back to

school, then I had two more and then I got it as well. And it ended up being the flu. Now,

we all had our flu shots, but we still got it really bad, minus only one child who didn't get it and also Brad who got it,

but still not quite as bad as the rest of us. So we were forced to stay home like for a full

week after going back to school and all moms know what that's like whose kids go to school,

right? Like you're like, yay, we're

finally back into the normal rhythm. And then it's like, just kidding. And then you're all here for the week. And I have to still try to figure out how to do work with you all here too. That flu was pretty bad. I'm sure you heard on the show how the flu affected me. My voice only is now recovering from it. It was one of those viral flus where it was more like respiratory.

It just made you feel like junk and then. only is now recovering from it. It was one of those viral flus where it was more like respiratory.

Just made you feel like junk and then turned into a cough and, you know, all that stuff. I think a lot of

people have gotten pneumonia from it and sinus infections after like things like that. So I feel

lucky that none of us experienced that, especially after one of my kids got pneumonia this fall.

I know how hard that is.

We did a room switch this month.

...