Thanks goodness for the JCC

That's one reason I'm enjoying Pittsburgh so much.  I've been working out regularly (those baby expelling stomach muscles still need work as they always seem to get sore) and finally took Shayna swimming for the first time since our stay in Boulder.  (Blacksburg just doesn't have good facilities.)

She LOVED the water (see more pictures at end of  fb album).  We also hung out there Sunday while it rained outside (after a short jaunt in the rain to get there) watching the kids play basketball in the gym then people walk through the main hall while I looked at the art exhibit.  Shayna got pretty excited about the kids playing basketball but then spotted all the extra balls in a corner of the gym and wanted to play herself.  Once she got more distracted by the stationary balls (which she would have promptly tried to eat) we left to watch people in the hall.

Even though we can't see a whole lot of people (as I would get smacked by Shayna's coordinator for exposing her to all those germs), it feels like we've got a community here.  We had a lovely dinner at some new friend's house on Friday.  Much more high class than I am used to with delicious custom martinis, but they're also grandparents so had a highchair and toys for Shayna (she even got to take some new things home).  There's a fruit stand/store around the corner whose owner I stop to chat with when I walk past with Shayna.  There's a park 10min walk from home with friendly parents I chatted with while pushing Shayna on the swing Saturday.  Yesterday we took a family day (since Nahum worked all weekend) and explored one of the little parks/trails along the Monongahela River.  It's been one of the snowiest winters but I can still easily picture myself living here.

Shayna responded great to our sleep training.  As long as I maintain a rigid nap and bedtime schedule, she only wakes once in the night now for feeding and goes right back to sleep.  It makes the day a little inflexible, but for a real night of sleep I'll take it.  I just have to prep for any outings I want to take her on (like grocery shopping or swimming) while she sleeps so we can get moving as soon as she wakes.  Having Kate helps a lot with this as I can run errands on my own, and Nahum and I can have date nights.  We saw Avatar in 3D at the IMAX  theater in Homestead (a borough of Pittsburgh just over the river from Squirrel Hill). Seeing a movie in 3D is AMAZING, plus it was a good movie.

Childrens was closed Monday (for MLK) so we did labs yesterday.  We won't know about the EBV levels until Thursday since the testing takes 2 days.  Our next clinic is this Monday (every other week) and that's when we'll know better about when we might get to come home.