600G of strawberries retails for £4.50 (Tesco). If this whole setup cost only a million pounds, a producer would have to grow 133,333,332G worth of strawberries to pay it off, and this assumes nothing breaks (ever) and that there is some way to harvest that many strawberries without paying labor, packaging, licensing, and other costs. I feel like this was a cool tech demo but that’s about it

I appreciate it nonetheless and hope you have a good one too!

We’re almost to our daughter’s 9th month of life. We’re both overtired and feeling overworked, with precious little of the time we used to spend on hobbies or couple-time. That said, while there’s been a shift towards an expectation culture in the house (vs an ask culture) we haven’t had the sort of challenges listed in that first paragraph.

Some things probably working for us:

• We’ve been together for over a decade and in our home for 9 years

• Our communication style is productive even during arguments (“I feel” statements are much more positive than “you” statements)

• We’re majority wfh so we have the capacity to buffer each others’ needs as parents throughout the day, rather than leaving everything to one person or having additional financial stresses with childcare

Some things definitely working for us:

• Calling each other out for awesome parenting, because very few others will and it’s amazing to feel that validation

• Proactively taking something off of each other’s plates, whether that’s cleaning or laundry, dishes or bottles, whatever task is getting done is one that doesn’t have to be done later

• Knowing about spoon theory and being sensitive to how much bandwidth each other has left. It’s way harder to recharge from past depleted, so being flexible and recognizing when I or my partner are reaching that point and stepping in or voicing a need for support goes a long way for both of us

How do you find the mental fortitude to ignore the stupid bs your partner does or says?

I mean, we’re both sleep deprived so I’m sure there’s stupid coming out of my mouth too. I think it’s much healthier to laugh or work to improve the condition causing stress than it is to feed a negative cycle. If either of us are escalating we missed a chance to bolster each other.

How would you describe love to your partner a year after having a baby?

Gratitude. I feel incredibly fortunate to have a partner who puts in the effort and has put in the effort to help build the communication style that’s worked so well for us.

Is there any way to know if you and your partner are going to make it and remain a couple after having a child?

It really helps to have a relationship built on respect, and knowing enough about yourselves to approach challenges constructively. Build a good foundation with each other, learn to communicate positively, and do your best.

My brother got my wife and me some miyoo minis, and I’m almost through TLoZ: Minish Cap. He loaded the tiny best set so I have too many choices and haven’t picked what I’m playing next

Mugolio

Have some more encouragement!

Taken in Dover, NH, this was at a 4-way intersection and all four corners looked like this

Two years ago I was putting the dog to bed when an old spruce tree fell on the section of house we were in. We’re talking a 60 foot/20m tall tree. Scared the hell out of us and the dog wouldn’t sleep in the room that night. It wasn’t until I went outside that I realized how close we had come. Luckily our house was made by dwarves or something (the low ceilings suddenly made sense) and aside from needing to replace roofing and some solar panels there was no damage.

Thanks, and I’m glad you got some recuperation time! I hope all of you really enjoyed their trip to the science museum

I think yours sounds like a good setup as well; I’m sure there will be a point where I’m thinking “I can’t wait till you start school”

I try to be a decent human

All of this sounds very familiar and I will say I’m a fan of the work you’ve done that’s led to who you are. Seriously, I’m glad to have met such a rock solid individual

💕 thanks friend! Every interaction with you convinces me that you are an awesome parent & person and I hope you’re having a great day.

Luckily my interests are the nursery, ecosystem work on our property, and documenting, and I can be a SAHD and involve her in a lot of that.