When my dad found out I was pregnant, he was overjoyed about being a grandpa. He would text me everyday about how he was gonna teach our baby how to cut wood, start a fire, pee outside and so much more. It made me excited knowing he was excited for this new role in life. At about 5 weeks pregnant, I had a few nicknames for our little bundle of joy including Fetus, Baby and Baby Rhames. Charles and I didn’t want to give any other names to our baby until we knew the gender.

One day I told my parents, “Fetus doesn’t like pizza.” As much as pizza sounded good, it never settled well after I ate it. From the moment I called the baby Fetus, my Dad instantly started calling the baby Festus. Apparently, Festus is the name of a mule from the old tv show Gunsmoke. Festus was a close variation of Fetus so that’s what he stuck with. Even though the name was a little strange… I kind of liked it. Throughout the weeks, my Dad continued to text me about baby Festus. Over time, I thought it was a cute little gender neutral nickname. I was super excited to tell our baby about their first nickname. ❤️