Hi friends. I wrote a majority of this newsletter while sitting at our local coffee shop sipping a rosemary vanilla latte and enjoying some introvert time this past weekend. Joseph is back to work after a little bit of paternity leave and I’m starting to settle into new rhythms with our three littles.
While I’d love to say this has all gone smoothly, wrangling three children in and out of winter coats and car seats has proved to be its own kind of adventure. We’ve had some incredibly joyful moments and some incredibly challenging moments in the past month.
As a dear friend said, “It gets easier, but it’s never easy.”
This newsletter is on the shorter side because I’ve been doing a lot more living life than writing about life this month. Enjoy the tunes, book recs, and poems, dear friends.
Podcasts, audiobooks, and playlists I’m tuning into:
Dracula by Bram Stoker. I finally finished this 18+ hour audiobook! Dracula was a book that I skipped over in high school, and I’m so glad I revisited it this fall. I particularly loved Stoker’s choice to write this book from multiple characters’ vantage points, which made for a fantastic audiobook experience.
This playlist from Be a Heart. Although it’s technically a Thanksgiving playlist, there are so many of my favorite artists that are included here that I have been playing it long after the leftovers are gone.
My top tunes of 2023 playlist. Every year, my parents, siblings, their spouses, and their kids send me their top five songs of the year and I curate a giant, hours long playlist that everyone listens to throughout the year. It’s such a fun way to get to know the musical tastes of all my family members and starts some really fun conversations around the dinner table. Here’s a look at my top tunes!
The books, articles, and Substacks that I’m reading in the twenty minutes of quiet time I have these days:
Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year by Erica Tighe Campbell. I was so excited when I saw Erica wrote a book on liturgical living—having the rhythms of the church calendar reflected in our home is something we’ve been focusing on this year here at the Langr house. This book is full of unique and simple ideas that are just delightful. I have multiple pages bookmarked for Advent ideas and I know this is a book I’ll pull of the shelves over and over.
Let’s Bake Bread! A Family Cookbook to Foster Learning, Curiosity, and Skill Building in Your Kids by Bonnie Ohara. Over a decade ago, I could make a mean loaf of bread. Our neighbor growing up taught me, often calling over to our house and asking if any of us kids wanted to come over and bake with her. That skill has gotten a bit rusty in recent years, so I was excited to pick up this book and get back into bread baking, this time with the girls beside me in the kitchen. This book is delightful. Whether you’ve never baked bread or have been baking for years, it’s full of easy to follow recipes that build on each other. The girls and I have made a loaf of bread and rolls for Thanksgiving … now they have their eyes on the rainbow bread!
She Wants to Write a Poem over on The Darling Files. That last line has stuck with me for days.
The books I’m reading (and re-reading!) with the girls:
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman // A Kiss for Little Bear by Elise Holmelund Minarik // My Father Knows the Names of Things by Jane Yoken // The Owl and the Pusyy Cat by Edward Lear // Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak // Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo
One small thing that’s making a massive difference
I love walks around our neighborhood, but, like I said, juggling three littles by myself has taken me a little bit of time to figure out. Then, a dear neighbor in our Buy Nothing group gifted us this incredible Ride & Stand trike from Radio Flyer:
Maeve rides on the front, pedaling away. Ada stands in the back, cruising along and letting Maeve do all the work. I push the handle so Maeve doesn’t steer into the storm drains, and William rides along, strapped into his carrier.
We have so much fun. It’s a bit of a parade, but it’s just so fun.
Solve this annual debate at the Langr house….
Team shoes. But stockings smell better, so I get it.
An eclectic collection of favorite things that I’m gifting this year:
Fun (and functional!) stocking stuffers for our littles // These gorgeous homemade ceramics that I discovered via
// The coffee subscription Joseph and I gift each other that lasts all year // All the CORDA candles (use the code LETTERS at checkout for 15% off! I don’t get anything for sharing this code, I just love these candles) // for your outdoorsy friend // These lovely lip balms // Beyond excited to gift our girls their own set of g-tube pumps and trachs for their dolls after they’ve been super interested in William’s medical gear // This gorgeous book for singing the Psalms in your own home// This new book by Emily Stimpson Chapman is leaving in the kids’ stockings next weekA gift for you:
There are many things that are changing up now that William is part of our crew (more thoughts on this in a future newsletter), but writing this newsletter is something that I always walk away from feeling refreshed, so it’s something that I’m carving out space for.
I’m excited to continue sharing these monthly Naptime Notes with you, as well as some longer form thoughts for paid subscribers on everything from walking your neighborhood to discerning big changes. I’d be honored if you’d support that writing through a paid subscription — and as a thank you to you for reading along, I’d love to offer you 30% off a subscription if you sign up before the end of the year.
A quote I’ve been thinking on:
The firm choice to seek only God entails many refusals to seek satisfaction in what is not God. This exclusiveness in our love for God does not mean, of course, that we love no other persons in life; rather, that all love flows from a deeper undercurrent of an intense love for God. God, from his end, so to speak, responds to intense love for himself and fills the soul with his own presence. He fills what he finds, by means of our love, empty for himself.
“Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation” by Father Donald Haggerty
A poem to leave you with:
Our yard is covered in both fallen leaves and the remnants of our first (tiny) snow this past weekend. Emily Dickinson’s Nature, Poem 49: November captures it perfectly:
Besides the autumn poets sing, A few prosaic days A little this side of the snow And that side of the haze. A few incisive mornings, A few ascetic eyes, — Gone Mr. Bryant's golden-rod, And Mr. Thomson's sheaves. Still is the bustle in the brook, Sealed are the spicy valves; Mesmeric fingers softly touch The eyes of many elves. Perhaps a squirrel may remain, My sentiments to share. Grant me, O Lord, a sunny mind, Thy windy will to bear!
Thank you for reading along, friends. I can’t wait to be back in your inbox next month (Advent! Christmas! Snow!) with hopefully some longer musings.
If you love what you read in this newsletter, can you forward this to a friend who would enjoy reading along, too?
In His Sacred Heart,
Chloe
p.s. One of my new favorite ways to work through those Thanksgiving leftovers.