Bubba's Turning 4!

12/04

My sweet little Bubba is turning 4 this week! I love him so much. It was so great to look back at pictures from his birth. What a gift children are.

Some of you know the funny story about Bubba's name but I will share with the few who don't how he got his name....

When I was pregnant with him, I loved the name Evan and bonded with him as Evan. Tim wasn't sold on the name. We thought we would wait until we saw him to name him (BIG MISTAKE). I saw him and still wanted to name him Evan. Tim didn't. So 3 days later, before we could be released from the hospital, we had to choose a name for his paperwork. We decided to compromise and name him Ethan. I agreed because it is a name from the Bible and Ethan in the Bible was a musician in the temple and wrote a Psalm. I felt good about it and Tim liked it.

We left the hospital with baby Ethan and sent out birth announcements announcing the birth of Ethan Hayes Blackiston. There was only one problem. I had already subconsciously named him EVAN and could not bring myself to call him Ethan. It was all wrong. I cried for a solid week telling our parents that I had given their new grandson the wrong name. They said time will help. Just keep calling him "Ethan" until it feels right. Well, it never did.

In a postpartum call to Tim's mom, she said... "If it is that important to you, then just change it to Evan". I said, really?? Can I? So, I begged Tim to let me change our newborn's name. He lovingly let me. I had to go through piles of paperwork to change his name. I was actually thankful when I called the Tennessee State Birth Certificate office and they transferred me to the 'newborn name change department'. I guess I am not the only nutty mom who has done that.

His birth certificate now says Ethan with a line through it and Evan written above.

The funniest part of this story is that no one calls him either.

Reece couldn't say "baby" when Bubba was born because he was just a little over a year old.

Instead of "baby", he said "Bubba". We thought it was cute never dreaming it would stick.... and it stuck.
He is "Bubba" to everyone who knows him.

He might be schizophrenic when he grows up because of name-confusion.

I am so grateful for him.

We thought he died when he was 8 months old. It turned out to be a weird sickness that caused him to have a seizure and his eyes to roll back in his head and go limp all the way to the ER. I will never forget that car ride where all I could do was feel for a pulse and sing praise songs. I didn't think he was going to celebrate a birthday.

Thank you God for my sweet, sweet, Bubba.

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There is never a question where my kids want to have their parties.... MIMI'S HOUSE!! So, we planned the party after Thanksgiving with my mom and dad, my grandparents, my sister and her 4 kids.

I am determined Bubba won't have 'middle child syndrome' so I try my best to always let him know how special he is to us. We had a pirate party and it was a huge hit. There were pirates everywhere!! :)

Check out the pirate cake. It was amazing and it came from Food City!! It tasted like wedding cake and was 3- dimensional.

Yum, Yum, Yum!!

Pinata time!

Next stop, Disney World!!!!