This is Monica Packer from About Progress and you are 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.

It is so good to be here with you today. July and August went by so fast. We did not do a messy

middle in August as we typically do, so you get two for one today. We're going to share

my messy middle from the last two months, July and August, and I have a lot to share with you.

I'll start with most recent, like I've just been really in the enjoyable kind of flow busy

preparing for a big habit tour. I've been doing on Instagram. I've also been doing a tour of podcasts

off Instagram and it's been really wonderful and exciting, and I hope that you are taking part.

It's all free, too. On top of that, though, let's say, you know, kids started school. Last week,

my preschoolers are at a preschool on Monday, like, Tier. He's loving it. It was just a second

day today. Right now, he's right outside my office door watching Stinky and Dirty, so I can record

this. But things are going well there, and I'm so grateful. And one more, you know, big picture

of what's happening right now, because that's how we like to start these episodes. If you haven't

heard, I'm pregnant. I'm a little over 20 weeks pregnant. Just had my big ultrasound this morning,

and things are looking great, which is such a huge relief and a blessing. But part of why I took

that break off in mid-July to make August was just because I needed to rest my body. I was really

really, really ill with this pregnancy. I've been with every one at the beginning, but usually

last the first 20 or so weeks, with extremely intense nausea and all that kind of fun stuff. But

it started to feel more manageable late July, and that was just in time for some family

vacations. We did this other new time back, which was nice. We did it for my family and Brad's family.

And what was nice about that was the first time my kids were able to actually do something fun

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