Ostriches might be mean, but their eggs are sure yummy!

Ok, so that statement might be a little misleading since I myself did not eat ANY of the ostrich egg written about in this post.  I hate eggs.  All eggs.  However, my girlies love them and so the "ostrich eggs are yummy" comment came from the mouths of babes...not me!

I promised I would share the story about our weekend fun at The Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch and so here it is!

The family was in town and we were running out of things to do so we thought, "Hey what could be more fun than heading down to the Ostrich Ranch and hanging out with some really giant, mean birds for the day?!"

I think they wanted to eat Ellie...but she has the last laugh later...keep reading.

So the ostrich's were evil, but the rest of the animals at the ranch were so cute and the girls LOVED feeding the deer and the donkeys so it was a really fun time!  

On our way out we saw that they had real ostrich eggs for sale and since Uncle Jim has always wanted to try one, he bought one for us to cook for breakfast the next day...for the super low price of $20.00.  Ha! They're not cheap but apparently 1 ostrich egg is equal to 24 chicken eggs so, needless to say, we had a lot of leftovers.  

Natty helping Uncle Jim make an ostrich egg breakfast

Ellie and the Egg

Ellie wanting to "eat" the egg whole

Aha! Take that evil Ostrich!

What's the best part about an Ostrich Egg?  Ellie is able to eat them!  She's allergic to chicken eggs so typically can't enjoy eggs for breakfast like everyone else.  But ostrich eggs are often an alternative for people with egg allergies.  So cool!

Have any of you had an ostrich egg before?  The rest of our family seemed to like it.  Apparently they are better for you than chicken eggs too...and for $20 bucks, they'd better be! 

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Eczema, Food Allergies and Mommy Guilt

My sweet little monkey Elle has had severe eczema since birth.  Now that she's running around and getting dirty, it's just constantly getting worse and flaring up, to the point that she has multiple open wounds on her feet and hands that are now causing infections. 

Her skin has always been so sensitive that we didn't take too much notice the first time she received a few hives after touching peanut butter.  The second time was a bit worse and now last week she was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy...which of course, like most peanut allergies, can result in anaphylaxis. 

I know I still have to get on with life.  I know this is not the worse thing that could happen.  I know.  I know.  But I feel that strong protective mama wave coming over me and I just want to yell at everyone around me. 

How can I leave her to play when she is walking around on her tip toes because of the cuts on her feet?  How can I work and sleep at night knowing that she's constantly scratching at her skin?  How can I leave her with other people knowing about this life-threatening food allergy when peanuts could be anywhere?!  How can I do anything knowing that she's uncomfortable?! 

This is my baby!

For now, we have a steroid that will eliminate the eczema for about 2 weeks.  Then it will be back, as always.  I have until the next outbreak to get some work done and feel like myself. But once it strikes again, the mommy guilt will be back something fierce. 

Do any of your children suffer from food allergies, eczema or other ailments?  Besides being way more in control of the situation than I am, how do you cope?  Do you have sad days? Guilty days? Strong days?

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