The brothers that wheeze together

I know I've been absent for a few weeks now, so here's an update for your inquiring minds. It's been an interesting few weeks at the homestead. Both boys have been sick with colds, and each developed complications. Paolo's ear became infected. Of course it did, because his left ear is the halfway house for all the diseases science is trying to eradicate from the planet. Currently, smallpox is in apartment 2B, scarlet fever is in 7D, and consumption is about to get evicted for playing its music too loud. Gianluca developed lower respiratory bronchiolitis. If there is a bright side to that diagnosis, it is that the medication to treat this condition is Albuterol. From the dark days of Paolo's infancy, we have the medicine, the mask, the technique, and an open prescription for refills.

Paolo is already back to full health, but Gianluca is recovering more slowly, exacerbated by his refusal to eat. At first he wanted nothing, then he went on nursing strike, and now he won't take a bottle. We had to pick him up early from daycare yesterday because he wouldn't eat and it was freaking them out. To get us through this week, I'm going to drive to daycare on my lunch break to feed him and give him a breathing treatment. Hopefully by next Wednesday, we'll have the baby train back on the tracks so our lives can get back to normal, because, in this family, normal is crazy enough.