428 Days/38w5d

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned it here before, but since June-July I have been involved with an organization called Operation Top Knot. Operation Top Knot is a group within Soldier's Angels that focuses on military families with children under two years old or who are expecting a baby. At one time, nominees also had to have a deployed spouse or be an active duty service member themselves, but I am not sure if that is still a requirement to be nominated. I signed up to be a part of this in June and since then have sent baby gifts to 1-2 military families per month. I have also nominated numerous friends whose husbands are deployed. Jon and I have been blessed (or lucky) not to have faced any deployments since we've been married so I have no idea what it's like. I imagine that having to go through a pregnancy and/or give birth without your spouse by your side as well as having to play both mom and dad to older children is one of the ultimate sacrifices of being a military wife. These families deserve every ounce of support that is being given to them.

As I mentioned above, I was under the impression that nominees had to either have a deployed spouse or be an active duty service member themselves so I was rather surprised when I got an e-mail informing me that Jon and I had been nominated to receive support (and I still don't know who nominated us so if it was you and you're reading this, THANK YOU)!

We received our first gifts at the end of October- a ladybug tummy time mat off of our Buy Buy Baby registry from an "Amy." (I don't have a picture of this since we haven't opened it up yet)

A few weeks later we received a baby towel and two washcloths from "Kay" with a sweet note congratulating us on our baby and thanking Jon for his service.

On Tuesday, we got a third package from "Kathy" with a hand crocheted baby hat for Lucy and a Raggedy Ann doll for Arianna (as well as another handwritten note).

Today, we received a fourth package from "Sarah" with 6 AIO cloth diapers, 4 inserts, and 10 nursing pads. All hand made!!!

Doublers


Nursing pads

I just cannot express the gratitude I feel at all of this kindness from strangers! I'm sending out thank you cards, but that just doesn't seem like enough. These people didn't have to do anything for us, but they chose to simply because they are grateful for what Jon does. The thought of someone sitting and hand making things for our baby girl brings me so much happiness and we will keep these things forever just to show her how much she was loved before she was even born. I am really just amazed and so grateful to these ladies for their generosity.