Sisters are doing it for themselves. . . .

With apologies to Aretha, we got some great pictures of the girls together this weekend, along with some nice individual ones.  Harper had her six month check-up this week - just a bit late, and she is doing great.  She is 16 lbs, 11 oz, which puts her at the 75%tile for babies born 37 weeks, or 50% for full-term babies.  She's 25 1/4 inches - 50%tile/25%tile(37 weeks/full-term) and has a head circumference of 17 1/8 (75-90%tile vs. solid 75%tile for full-term) - great growth all the way around. 

Give her enormous head, this may come as a surprise, but she is also been rolling over for the past week, so it isn't weighing her down.  In most cases, she is following Finley's development pretty closely as measured by percentages, which we are pretty happy about.  She's also been great with tummy-time, so the concerns he had about the back of Harper's head are virtually gone.

Finley continues to do well.  She is really fun to read to -- she's had us read so many of the books to her so often that it is almost like she can read now.  She's memorized many of the books, so if you just start her off with the first couple of words on the page, she can keep going from memory.  She'll also use the stories in conversation;  just a couple of days ago, we found one of her toys outside.  A dog that will remain nameless (big and white) was likely responsible and Finley, to paraphrase one of her nursery rhymes, said, "those naughty doggies, they shall have no pie."  I know that you had to be there, but it is clear that Finley loves her books and always enjoys going to the library to pick out new ones.

Now, on to the photos:

Harper tried her best to stay awake for the overtime win last night, but she just couldn't do it.

  Finely loves her flip-flops ("just like Mommy's"), so she was determined to get them into the picture.  Harper really likes being by Finley and Finley doesn't seem to mind Harper pulling her hair or rolling her feet onto her as she's moving around.  I have a feeling that several years from now (or months) that won't be the case.

This is a picture, taken just before I stop her, of the foot going towards Harper's mouth.

She really is a remarkably happy baby.  Harper has been a pleasure and even though she probably doesn't sleep a long through the night as Shelley would like, in every other way she is a dream.

It is interesting to look at them side by side, because while they look a great deal alike, esp. when comparing pictures at the same age, they have completely different coloring.  Finley's coloring is darker -- her hair, eyes, and skin tone are all just darker than her sister's.  Harper is around the age Finley's eyes turned brown, so we'll see if they remain this blue.

Finley celebrating the Cubs win today in a nail biter vs. the Rangers.

Harper has only woken up angry a couple of times that she's been on her stomach and unable to roll over.  That said, she is constant motion when she sleeps and it is only a matter of time before she wakes us up screaming because she's got her foot caught in the slats of the crib.  Here, on the other hand, she sleeps like the angel she usually is.

That's all for now, but check back next week for more.