I figured I could just skip the “no more baby” news with Lorelei – or hoped – I thought maybe if we carefully didn’t mention it again, it’d leave her pretty little head.

Nope.

As I finished up a phone call (through which she’d been playing), she looks over at me and says, “Mama…is the baby dead?”

I suppressed the tears threatening to spill forth.  “Yes, baby.  Remember the baby in mommy’s tummy?  (she nods) Well, it went to be with Jesus.”

“Oh, okay.” She replied with a nod.  I studied her face, watching for any signs of stress so I would know when to stop this conversation.  Her eyebrows knitted together with a look of concern and she said, “So, I won’t have a baby brother? ”

“That’s right.”

“But… I wanted a Shark” (if it was a girl, we’d discussed the name CHARLOTTE as a possibility)

I smiled.  “Charlotte.  You wanted to name the baby Charlotte.  But, Charlotte is a girl’s name and you wanted a brother.  Anyways…it doesn’t matter.  The baby’s with Jesus, now.  And, it’s all okay.”

“Why is the baby with Jesus, mommy?”

“Well, Jesus wanted the baby to come live with Him.  He wanted to hold it.”

Her little face frowned again, “But *I* want him.  I want to hold my baby, too!”

“I know, me too.  And, someday we will when we go to heaven.  But, you know, it’s okay…” I paused, touching her chin.  “Mommy and daddy will work on getting you your brother after a while.  And, besides, you still have a baby sister.  Aurora’s pretty great, huh?”

She slowly nodded as a smile crept across her face.  “I love her.  She’s cute.”

Welcome back!