I thought it was time for a guppy update (I'm sure at least one of you were wondering  ;)

Let's recap:  We set up a guppy fish tank for my daughter, thinking they were all males.  One of them turned out to be a female and soon appeared to be expecting.  We waited the appropriate amount of time and nothing happened.  We went away for 2 nights and on our return, there was a tiny, tiny baby swimming among the plants.  Quickly, we put the baby and mom in another tank and waited to see if she would have anymore as she still looked quite heavy.  That's where I left you hanging. 

We kept mom and baby in the separate tank for about 1-1/2 weeks but she didn't have anymore babies.  And she looked quite stressed.  So we put her back in with the males and kept her baby separate.  She immediately looked better and within a few days, we saw another tiny, tiny baby swimming near the top of the tank.  As my son tried to net the baby, it got sucked into the filter.  "Go get your father!" I said as we unplugged the filter.  My dh opened the filter and found not one but two babies!  These we put in with the first baby and they are all doing just fine.  The oldest baby is so big, he'll be able to join the adults in a week or two.  Carmen will name it as soon as we can tell its gender. 

It's so strange that this female has delivered like this.  Everything I've read says that female guppies are pregnant more often than they are not.  And that they deliver many babies at one time, not just one or two.  So we have a unique female on our hands.  It's been a great experience for all of us, especially my daughter.  She takes good care of her fish and her Dad and brother help her with things she can't do.  We visited a great fish store in Portland the other day and Carmen wanted to buy a book she found about live bearing fish so she could learn more.  I love life experiences that teach more than I ever could on my own.

Now I'll throw in a Hunley (the Civil War sub) update.  As you well know, my son Alec is "all things Hunley" at the moment.  He'll see something I'm ready to recycle or throw out and ask if he can have it.  20 minutes later, he'll appear with his latest Hunley creation.  This time it was the box from a tube of acne med for another child of mine (who shall remain anonymous).  Alec asked for it and returned with "The Mini Hunley".  The kid is constantly leaving tape, scissors and shreds of paper and/or cardboard everywhere.  There are times I wish I had stifled his creative streak years ago but, no, I don't really mean it.  That kid is DETERMINED to build his own personal submarine someday and I have no doubt he could do it.  Unfortunately, he'll need to earn a lot of money first.  That's sure to put a damper on things.