And here we are three years after I wrote about the Google Pixel Fold being announced, followed now with the announcement of the iPhone Duo...(I have questions about the naming by the way). Four years ago I was talking about web primitives in the platform for the Surface Duo. My how time flies. There are CSS media features, a Viewport Segments API, a Device Posture API but Chromium based browsers are the only ones currently supporting these things. I haven't been able to find any signal yet on whether Safari will support these things in the web platform as the developer docs focus on application development. If you're interested in trying out the platform features, you can emulate the Surface Duo and Galaxy Z Fold in the developer tools. And if you're thinking, do I really have to have my website adapt to two screens? The answer is no. Adding a design to an application or dual screen makes sense if you have an experience that has two simulataneous contexts that are useful e.g. a list of email messages/inbox on one screen, an open message, email thread or email composer on the other. Here's one of my talks from 2022 if you're interested in learning more about what's available in the browser for dual screen/foldable devices. Happy building :)

I started work back up again yesterday, June 1, as a remote tech worker for an open source consultancy. My husband started his paternity leave today. I'm only going back part-time for the moment so my rough plan is to work 3 days a week with the exception of this week, as I wanted to open my laptop, clear out my inbox, setup my Notion pages for 2026, change my away message and just try to get a vague sense of what's happened while I've been away. I'll work Monday-Thursday but Monday and Tuesday will be half days. My goal for the day was to get up with Chloe at 6:00 AM like normal. Put her down for her nap at 7:30. Have Jhey take over while I take the dog to the vet for heart scan and then log on for a little bit this afternoon. The universe said, a plan with an almost 5 month old? Nice try. Chloe woke up at 3:00 AM which is unusual for her. I rocked her back to sleep. Put her down. Tried to crawl back into bed. She woke up, rolled onto her tummy, and cried because she can't get onto her back because she's seemingly forgotten how to do so. She started rolling tummy to back weeks ago, but now that she can go back to tummy...that's all she does. Rinse and repeat until 6 AM. So I'm at that shattered level of tired. So much so that when I take my dog Vogue to the vet and they're telling me the results of her heart scan, it's not processing how poorly her heart actually is until I get home and talk to Jhey. She'll be on medication for the rest of her life. She's 14. We'll do another scan in a month to see if the meds help slow the progression of her heart enlargement and then I'll ask for a potential timeline...how much time they think she has left. Jhey goes to the gym and then someone shows up to pick up his special edition Mustang that he's sold. I get Chloe down for her nap and log on at 2:00 PM. I had briefly logged on for a half hour in the morning to just do a quick check and update. My inbox is a disaster as it seems my out of office reply, replied to spam messages that would normally not be in my inbox and I have 100s to delete. I try to be ruthless and delete as much as possible but leave the more company-wide discussions for follow up. I try and skim the chat. But there's too much. By the time it's 5:00 PM I have barely managed to get my Notion pages set back up. I'll try again tomorrow. I remind myself that today was particularly difficult with scheduling and is not indicative of my days going forward. Tomorrow I'll try for more routine. I go over to Jhey's parents' house and chat, we bring Chloe back for her nap, then bath and bedtime routine. I make a quick dinner of shrimp stir fry with a nice veggie stir fry pack from Waitrose. I almost make it to the end of the Euphoria finale but pass out briefly and then go up to bed. Exhausted but accomplished. Day one of this new life and routine and figuring it out is complete.

Today is my last day of maternity leave. Chloe is down for her morning nap and I'm trying to process the last 5 months and where it has all gone and all these complicated feelings. I want to go back to work and I don't. I am only going back part-time for a few months but it still feels like a massive shift is about to happen. Chloe is on a pretty good routine at the moment and just learned to roll over from her back to front. She is more aware, getting stronger and so damn cute. Her little gummy smile when I get her out of her cot in the morning and after naps fills my heart with such joy. I'm not sleeping particularly well at the moment and it's not necessarily because she wakes up at night. I have a lot of anxiety around sleep at the moment because of how hot it's been in the UK. Somehow despite the broken sleep, I get through the day and have a burst of energy after she goes to bed. I started anti-depressants for postpartum depression around the 3.5 month mark. This can also cause sleep issues and insomnia but I feel a lot better and have no problem saying without medication I'd be struggling to survive. I've even rediscovered my joy for a few hobbies and am excited to start gardening again and have decided our outdoor space needs an upgrade. I'm finding a rhythm again, ever so slowly. When it comes to the web and my career, I feel like I'm coming back at a weird time. AI is wrecking havoc and I continue to be skeptical of how hard it is being pushed. I believe it can be useful and is a tool, but the places where it could have the most impact and be incredibly transformational are not being funded adequately. I also don't believe it can adequately replace entire roles, and I don't believe we should be expecting 10x the output from workers because AI may be automating some tasks for them. We should not be pushing AI generated code to PRs without reviewing it or having some understanding of what has been generated. I fear there's going to be a lot of slop to clean up. I've been approached to create a proposal for a new side project. Details TBD but I'm considering moving ahead with it as it ties into Design for Developers. There's a lot on my mind, but I'm expecting Chloe to wake up any moment so I will eventually share those things on the blog but I will be back from maternity leave tomorrow (June 1) and dipping my toes back into adult life again. I've enjoyed the level of disconnection from online. My screen time is way down as I try to avoid being on my phone when Chloe is in front of me. Priorities have shifted. I've shifted. I feel like a completely different person, but I think it'd be strange if I didn't. How can you not grow after the experience of giving birth and motherhood?

And suddenly it happens one day in March. The sun beams down in a rare cloudless sky. It might be cold as the wind gently blows but The Sun. The Sun beams down and it promises Long nights on the horizon. It promises miserable humid days And lovely warm days. Harsh mid-day light. Dreamy golden evenings. It comes out to announce Winter's end before It once again disappears behind England's cloudy skies. And Suddenly Spring is here and my soul is warmed once again.