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. I always start this episode with the What's Happening segment where I share about what's

been going on in the Packer household.

First, it was a giant continuation of us being sick.

Late December, early January, we got the flu.

But my toddler especially, I guess now my three-year-old,

just hasn't caught a break. He got that. And then he got strep throat. And then he had another

cough. And then he had ear infections. And then he had RSV. Like all different things back to back to back,

which was really a bummer. My other kids handled it pretty well, but it's just when he gets sick.

You know, everything kind of has to stop. And this was a hard month for that to happen because my book

is due the day this air. So I'll share more about that in an upcoming segment. At the very

beginning of the month, I went and got my vein procedures done. And the nutshell of this is I got some varicose veins removed. And it should

help a lot with pain that I've been long experiencing in my legs and swelling and things like that.

It was covered by insurance, which is really fortunate. There is a cosmetic version that I may do

in a month or two. That was like $350 to get rid of all my spider veins.

So I may do that, but I was really, really anxious going into it. It wasn't pleasant, but it

wasn't bad. And the recovery hasn't been bad either, although I'm still recovering. Like,

my legs still feel weird. Things are still swollen. All my scars are still

there, stuff like that. But overall, I'm already glad I did it and I'll let you know more how it goes.

I shared way more about those procedures in and asked me anything night that I shared with the

supporters club. And I also aired on more personal if you're interested more in that.

...