February Naptime Notes

On jubilees, splash pad summers, and romping

Good morning friends! It’s time for another (one day delayed) edition of Naptime Notes. This was supposed to land in your inbox last night around 10:00pm, sneaking in during the last few hours of February. But bedtime went sideways. Now I’m sitting here with a hot cup of coffee, watching my littles through the monitor and willing them to sleep for twenty more minutes so I can type up my last thoughts to you before hitting “send”.

We’ve had a beautiful hint of spring this week in Kansas—temperatures above sixty degrees most days made us shed even our light jackets and take a deep breath, knowing that winter is on it’s way out (eventually). The great weather came on the heels of a cold snap that cancelled school not because of the snow on the ground but because it was simply too cold to function.

Needless to say, we spent the pasts week going to a different park every day, eating picnic lunches, and playing in the driveway while basking in the sun.

Although this past month has felt quiet, our world feels on the brink of change as we prepare for two surgeries for William in the next few months—one which involves the removal of his trach and the reconstruction of his airway.

It’s a jubilee year and we’re all about restoration here at the Langr house.

There are a lot of aspects of life for William and for us that are impacted by his trach: He can’t take a bath, can’t talk without serious effort, has a hard time swallowing food, and hasn’t ever been in a swimming pool. Whenever we leave the house, we lug around twenty pounds of medical equipment. With the exception of a monthly date night with our total gift of a babysitter, Will is never far from Joseph or I.

But all of that is about to change. William is going to have a splash pad summer. I can’t wait to hear Will’s voice echoing loudly through our home, and to be able to hear him when he cries and laughs. I’m looking forward to the day when I sit a big bowl of applesauce in front of Will and he demolishes it. And I can’t wait to go on a walk around the neighborhood with William and the girls without a suction pump slung over my shoulder.

We have a long road between us and the splash pad. There are many weeks of quarantine leading up to surgeries, long hospital stays, and quiet weeks of recovery. Please keep us in your prayers—Jérôme Lejeune, pray for us!

I hope your weekend is restorative! We’re spending the morning planting our garden seeds—there is something so hopeful about seeing those little green sprouts pop up while we wait for spring to truly arrive.

Read on for a sneak peek at the books that my kids have been pulling off the bookshelf again and again, plus some beautiful tunes playing on our speakers here in the Langr listening room lately. And as always, thanks for reading along!

Songs I’m listening to on repeat…

Most songs playing on repeat in our listening room are songs I won’t subject you to (such as Barbie Princess and the Pauper and my children’s recent fascination with The Monkees). The girls also discovered the “repeat” button on our sound system and even songs that I like listening to have drastically lost their shine after listening to them thirty-two times in a row.

However, there are a few songs and albums that I’ve been listening to on repeat:

The books I’ve read this past month….

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. This audiobook is over forty hours long, so I’ll be savoring it for a while. It’s been close to a decade since I read through this masterpiece from front to back, and it's just so good.

Books the Langr littles adored this month…

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña // Anatole by Eve Titus // A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams // Fortunately by Remy Charlip // The Funny Thing by Wanda Gag // It’s Mine by Leo Lionni // Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne // Coquí in the City by Nomar Perez // Julia’s House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke // We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen

Letters to Women episodes that launched this month…

I’ll eventually write a longer essay on what it’s been like to stop podcasting—but until then, here is the last episode of the Letters to Women podcast:

An eclectic list of things I’ve loved this month…

These affordable curly/wavy hair products are my new favorites // And this $3 gel is reminding me that taking care of your natural hair texture doesn’t need to break the bank // I had a lot of fun with this nine day capsule wardrobe challenge hosted by the company that makes wool dresses that I love wearing—and you can still join! // Savoring this printed women’s journal // I cannot wait to sew birthday crowns for my crew this year using this adorable template // This scarf will take me all spring to knit but I love working on it // I’ve worked out every day in 2025 so far thanks to this app // Word on Fire Institute is offering a free 30-day trial of their online institute + a copy of the Word on Fire Bible for free! // These Coq au Vin meatballs are astounding //

A quote I’m pondering…

In Mary, as figure and archetype, the Church again finds her own visage as Mother and cannot degenerate into the complexity of a party, an organization or a pressure group in the service of human interests, even the noblest. If Mary no longer finds a place in many theologies and ecclesiologies, the reason is obvious: they have reduced faith to abstraction. And an abstraction does not need a Mother.

- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, ‘The Ratzinger Report’

A poem to leave you with…

Wouldn’t we all do better if we romped with children more? Enjoy North Berwick by G.K. Chesterton:

On the sands I romped with children
Do you blame me that I did not improve myself
By bottling anemones?
But I say that these children will be men and women
And I say that the anemones will not be men and women
(Not just yet, at least, let us say).
And I say that the greatest men of the world might
romp with children
And that I should like to see Shakespeare romping 
with children
And Browning and Darwin romping with children
And Mr. Gladstone romping with children
And all the Bishops romping with children
And I say that if a man had climbed to the stars
And found the secret of the angels,
The best thing and the most useful thing he could do
Would be to come back and romp with children.

That’s all I have for you this month!

In His Sacred Heart,

Chloe