Three Beautiful Things

1. The midwife comes for her final visit. She says that Alec is lovely -- which means a lot coming from someone whose job is babies. It also means a lot because he has baby acne, scratches on his face from his long nails and flaking skin caused by his extra two weeks inside. Nick and I know he's lovely, but it must be hard for other people to see it! 2. Yvette, whose 3BT posts I mentioned earlier this week, recommended this short film about baby-led feeding . We give it a go, and marvel of marvels, Alec latches on all by himself . What a grown up boy. 3. Other new parents have told us about the interrupted meals. We have our first experience of Alec requesting a feed just as Nick brings our supper to the table. I can only plug the baby in and watch longingly as my stew and dumplings and peas and sweetcorn goes in the oven to keep warm. It tastes so good when I get it back.

1. Nick takes me out for breakfast -- at 10am the streets are Sunday silent and the air is so cold and still that it feels as if we are watching the world through glass. 2. Hot chocolate with a peak of foam on top and flecks of chocolate melting into it. 3. He calls down from the attic: "Darling wife, I can track our pizza on-line!"

1. I haven't got my head round the clocks going forward. I sleep badly, wake up shouting at skeletons on top of the wardrobe and then I doze through the news on the radio alarm. Nick suggests I should have a lie in and this strikes me as an excellent idea. Twenty minutes later, I'm ready to go. All things come to he who waits. 2. The dentist praises my hygiene. I tell him I'm lucky with my teeth. He tells me about the golfer Gary Player -- "Someone told him he had a lot of luck, and he replied: 'You know, it's funny, the more I practise, the luckier I get.'" 3. I go along to the Tuttle, and the men are all full of a game called Foursquare -- every time you go somewhere, you use your iPhone to sign in. They have been competing to get to places first ("I bagged hobbycraft," says someone proudly), and to go to places the more times than anyone else (that makes you the mayor -- "I'm now mayor of the Pantiles -- Rob's really anno...

1. The grubby yellowish light of a thunderstorm. 2. My Tunbridge Wells Twitter pane lights up as a thunder storm goes over. Exclamations and back-up reminders make me feel as if I'm working in a friendly office again. 3. The last piece of work has been a slog -- I feel as if I've actually climbed the South Downs that I've been writing about. I'm so glad to be standing on the top of the hill looking back at my progress.

1. I use a craft knife to try some of Cindy's Scherenschnitte templates. Being allowed to use a craft knife unattended is one of the best things about being grown-up. 2. Before I put the leftovers from supper in the fridge, I pick out and eat a cube of tender fried aubergine. 3. I like to watch comedy with Nick (there is a new programme on that adds a voiceover to wildlife footage) and seeing him laugh.

1. Short stories are exactly the right size for a lunch break. 2. The transformations in Fenella and Andy's home. Crisp white damask curtains arrived today and are presently tied into neat pleats: they are memory curtains, and if they are kept in place for 24 hours, will remember the shape and go back to it every time they are closed. When you've had no bedroom curtains for a few months, a 24-hour wait seems like a lifetime. 3. I come home to find an anonymous comment on yesterday's post that reminds me -- in the nicest possible way -- to write my thank you letters.

1. I take my lunch out to the seats in the back of the carpark. Within minutes, I have seen a dragonfly. 2. A new scarlet ethernet cable in a coil on my bedpost. 3. A housemate cooking spag bol and unpacking the Abel and Cole box .

1. I have savings, really I do -- whenever I get unexpected money, I put it somewhere safe where it will grow. I have always felt vaguely guilty about not putting away a little each month, but never guilty enough to do anything about it. But now, for the first time in my life, I really do want to put something away each month, and feel as if I can afford to; and I've opened an account to do just that. Feeling so sure that this is what I want to do makes me think that perhaps when I resisted this in the past, I wasn't being stupid or lazy -- it was just not something that I needed to do. 2. Sarah comes in to look at her filing and says that she feels very proud of her five-year-old collection of notes and teaching aids. I think she has every right to be. 3. Websites that have muddled, half-heard white noises playing while you browse -- Rethink Daily does it and so the JK Rowling site.

1. Finding this website. It's good to see that someone else is happy, and I particularly like this post about watching television sideways. 2. I help a user find a presentation on our site. She tells me how much she likes what we offer -- customer delight is very satisfying. 3. Making kittens chase something round and round and round until you're sure they're going to trip over their tail or fall over from dizziness -- but they never do. Nicky says this is because they have a leg at each corner.

1. Slicing morsels from a peeled russett apple and eating them off the knife. 2. Playing a slick and atmospheric computer game. Nightmares: The Adventure comes in four parts. I liked the sinister voice-over and the concept of neutralising the fears of a small boy by doing good deeds. 3. We liked the bamboo forest fight in House of Flying Daggers so much that we watch it all over again.

1. This story about a US town that buried a car to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It was dug up for the 100th anniversary. The intention is to present it to heirs of the 'lucky' person who correctly guessed the population of the town in 2007. Thanks to Paleo-Future for writing it up. 2. Neopolitan icecream -- the sort that comes in tubs with a stripe of pink, white and brown. 3. A tray of brownies in the oven.

1. Cooking dinner and seeing someone else enjoying it. 2. Longterm 3BTers may remember the transports of delight I experienced in Africa when a male vervet monkey stalked past me with his bright blue balls on display. Imagine, then, my jaw hitting the floor as in the course of the BBC's wonderful and highly educational The Life of Mammals , David Attenborough narrated very delicately footage of right whales mating. Twelve feet long and highly mobile, apparently. 3. My laptop now has a reliable source of internet that really belongs to us.

1. The sunset reflecting off ivy leaves on the oak trees outside our window. 2. I've been quietly borrowing an unsecured broadband connection and feeling a bit guilty about it. But it seems it belongs to a colleague, who is happy for us to use it. 3. Katie putting on her newly-knitted beanie hat for the first time.

1. For some reason, sleeping at work is frowned upon . Today has been one of those days when I resemble a narcoleptic Beano character -- Howay, readers, this abandoned pillow factory is the perfect place for 40 winks... Gleep! How was I to know it was being demolished using extra loud explosives today . I think it's something to do with a lack of daylight hours. Anyway, coming home this evening and having a snooze before supper and then another one after supper was very beautiful. 2. The White Hat People . Not last Sunday but the Sunday before a card appeared on Postsecret about going to the cinema alone but full of hope about meeting someone there who would understand. Another person responded, saying that they would go to the movies alone, too, and they would wear a white hat. And suddenly everyone wants to go to the movies alone, wearing a white hat. 3. Katie's mother lost her dog at the end of last week. I get a text from Katie saying it has been found alive and mostly wel...

1. Responding to the office next door's cheeky request for a share of our biscuits by sending their messenger back with an handful of broken pieces. 2. Looking out from the carpark at work across the dark fields and woods to Crowborough, a mound of twinkles and sparks rising out of the mist. 3. Reading The Framley Examiner and spotting knowing references to all sorts of things. I'm convinced the writers are rogue subs from a middle England newspaper. Who else would know about community news correspondents who try to file their copy by emailing you an 8MB bitmap scan of their minutes?

1. Waking up and almost immediately thinking of a way to resolve the short story that I am writing. 2. One at all . It's a new blog that is collecting one person from each country to write on a variety of topics. Projects like this make the world seem a happier, safer place, while celebrating our differences. I am honoured to have been asked to join -- I made my first post yesterday. 3. I'm not really a great shopper in boutiques, but I thought that this time, since the outfit was my reward to myself for finishing a story, I would give it a try. I mooned about for a few minutes looking vaguely at the racks, and then an assistant bore down on me. 'Can I help?' Instead of my usual 'Just having a look.' I told her: 'I'm after a wedding outfit for November. I like a deep neckline and proper shoulders so I can wear a bra.' Minutes later I was whisked into the changing room with five outfits lined up. I was made to come out in each and the good and bad poi...

The comments and emails are still pouring in -- thank you so much, everyone, especially those who are trying it for themselves, and those who have asked incisive questions about what I am trying to achieve. I read every single one, and I'm trying to check out all your blogs and reply to your questions, but it may take some time for me to respond. I am totally bowled over by the number of notes, and the compliments have put a big glowy smile on my face. To all those who ask if it's OK to link to 3BT, go ahead, no need to ask! 1. Being made a Blog of Note (thank you, oh Gods of Blogger) and using it as an excuse to buy pink Champagne and ring my parents very early in the morning. 2. Walking round the French Market on the Pantiles I spot a very large dog hitched to a little wooden shopping cart. A small crowd has gathered round to admire this arrangement. 3. There is a new Robin Hood series on BBC 1. I like Robin Hood because it is so very English, and because it involves lots of...

1. The comments and emails I get about 3BT usually brighten my morning routine and often change the way I think about the day. Cheers everyone. 2. Sunday morning text messages that are a call to brunch. 3. My green skirt. The end has come for this beloved garment: the tatter on the left hip where my bag rubs, has grown so large as to be indecent, and summer is over, so it's time for our ways to part. I love green as a base colour for summer, so I always have a green skirt or two. This has been one of my favourites: soft linen is a pleasure to wear and easy to care for; the generous cut makes it easy to move in; the shade of green is pretty and easy to match. If you hear the last post at the recycling centre, you'll know why.

1. Having an office with a huge window through which we can watch the rain. 2. Jason comes round to borrow the internet, bringing a drinkable bottle of wine. 3. When the ratheap of papers covering the table has been sorted out and put away.

1. Swanning around town in a new frock and getting it mentioned on A dress a day , my new exemplar of style. The one pictured is what I am wearing today. 2. Spending a day not househunting. 3. When there is just about time for a cup of tea.