What do you say?

It's amazing how throughout the past two months some people did not hear the news about Avery Kate. An old friend at Lauberge asked, "Where's the little one? With a babysitter?" A parent of a former student saw me at the post office and asked, "How's the baby?" The guy at my nail place asked, "How that baby doing?" An old friend at a cheerleading competition said, "Well you already have your two girls, so you've got half a cheer squad already." What do you say? Besides the numbness that runs through my body every time I am asked this question, I just try to give them the benefit of the doubt. "You mean Hallie?" Then I get the, "No! your baby! You just had a baby. We just saw her a couple of weeks ago." Then I have to explain. "We lost her to SIDS in November. She went down for her nap and woke up and the most beautiful imaginable." I'd honestly rather run in the opposite direction as fast as possible, but that's not realistic. I know it's not over. I know I'll get more questions like this, but it doesn't seem to be getting easier to answer.
Then there's the question, "How many kids do you have?" Well, the first time I was asked this, I said I had two girls, and then scurried off to the restroom to avoid any more questions. I don't want to leave out Avery Kate or pretend she never existed. But then again I don't want to open up a can of worms with a complete stranger either. Everyone doesn't have to know my story. I decided that I would just say that I have one daughter here and one in Heaven. I don't really know that there is a right or wrong way to answer that question, but I do know that I never want to exclude Avery Kate.