October Fest (or, Oktoberfest sans beer) - 16 & 17 Weeks

Fall should be hitting it's stride, so how come it's still in the mid-70s?  I shouldn't complain because I'll complain enough when it's cold outside, but I hate that we seem to be missing the middle temps this year.   

Sidenote about weather:  When I first started telling people I was pregnant, I got a ridiculous number of comments (seriously - well over ten) of how lucky I should feel that I wouldn't be pregnant during the summer.  I realized a theme pretty quickly - nearly every person that had made this comment was not someone who'd been through it herself, but a husband of someone who's been through it...and most of these husbands have awesome wives who are generally happy noncomplainers, but I guess when you're pregnant and miserable, it's only fair that the person who knocked you up and is sitting there all normal-sized should at least hear about your suffering, right?  But what got me was that look in their eye as they told me how lucky I truly was - it was like a permanent scar that reopens when their brain processes "heat" + "pregnant."  But c'mon, are we preggo women really that bad?  I'll leave that as a rhetorical question.

Anyway, in honor of fall, since I can't just sit around and drink a boatload of my favorite pumpkin beer (Punkin' Ale by Dogfishhead, in case you're wondering...have one for me), I have been relying solely on outdoor activities to complete my seasonal experience this year.  Last weekend we went to Asheville and got to see all the prettiness of the mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway, then this past weekend we went to a farm in High Point with a corn maze and pumpkin patch.  Here come a bunch of pictures:

Blue Ridge Parkway

The peak of Mount Mitchell, Lil Fil's highest point!

Rob and Steph (with Milly), me and Jamie
(with Winston, inappropriate as always, and Lilly)

Lost in the maize maze

It's a pumpkin house!

I was supposed to go to Raleigh for Lil Fil's third concert this upcoming Tuesday, but I'll be in trial with my boss in a county the opposite direction of Raleigh, so I'll be missing out.  In honor of the concert, our friend Andrew made a poster for us.  Unfortunately it's doubly inaccurate now - not only will I not be there, but Jamie shaved his "October beard" off a couple of days ago.  Doubly disappointing; so I'd rather remember it per his rendition:

Recap of Weeks 16 & 17:

• Lil Fil is the size of:  My palm; a hockey puck; an onion.  5 inches, crown to rump if you want to be all science-y about it.
• I have gained:  5ish pounds...but lordy lordy it looks like more than that.  Unpregnant, I would fluctuate about three pounds a day from water weight, etc, but when it's all concentrated in one place it's incredibly more noticeable.  
• I love:  McDonalds french fries - delicious and it's Monopoly season...free stuff!  I'm hoping for a million dollars, but all I've gotten so far is more fries (which I'm not complaining about).
• I hate:  scary things - e.g. horror movies, haunted houses, the dark, whales (this isn't a new "pregnant" hate, just in honor of Halloween next week)
• I physically feel:  hungry.  I fill up faster but want food more often, which makes for difficult meal scheduling.
• I emotionally feel:  great!  Seriously.
• Comment(s) of the week:   I'm really leaning toward the name [X] for a girl, because that onesie really looks like a onesie that a girl named [X] would wear.   - Jamie to me, after we bought our first newborn onesie at a little craft fair in Asheville.  I don't think he understands that babies change clothes. 
• Milestone:  I've finally stopped trying to hide the fact that I'm pregnant with my clothing choices.  I'm almost fully in maternity gear (bottoms, ate least), and I don't know if I'm actually past the fine "fat v. pregnant" line, but I've given up on caring what people think if they land on the "fat" side of the line.  I'm still not quite used to the "wow, you look huge today!" comments.  I'm hoping that will come, because unfortunately I've heard it more than once in the past couple of weeks.  

Aaand, last but not least, a couple more side-belly pics:

16 weeks

17 weeks