baby in red

Hey all! Greetings once again from Berlin. Brenda had her first performance of Ariadne auf Naxos on Sunday, and it was another great night at the opera. If it weren't for that baby bump, you'd have no idea she was pregnant since she moves so effortlessly around the stage. In one scene she kicks her leg up to eye level several times, which I probably couldn't do once. (I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know how it goes.) If you'd like to see a few pictures from the production and/or watch a short video, you can do so on the Berlin State Opera's website (those pictures were taken last June so don't expect to see a baby belly). Here's a more recent picture of Brenda in costume...

Posing for a picture in her dressing room.

This pic is courtesy of our friends Susanne and Stephan who were at the show on Sunday.

These past couple of days we've been taking advantage of Brenda's time off in between performances. Yesterday we went to the Berlin Aquarium and then out to dinner at a sushi restaurant (after seeing all those fish swimming around I decided to have an avocado roll). Today we wanted to get a little activity so we did some yoga at home. Brenda found a video online of a woman in her third trimester doing yoga and, even though I'm not exactly pregnant (do love handles count?), we went with that. We both sat down on our mats (Brenda's was genuine, mine was a bath towel) and we started the video. Things started off well - we closed our eyes, we put our hands on our bellies so we could be in tune with our babies - but then the instructor asked us to do something that I didn't think I could do. Namely, Kegel exercises. If you don't know what they are, WebMD can tell you, but the basic idea is that it is an exercise you do to strengthen your pelvic floor. Brenda and I thought it was something only women could do, so we laughed pretty hard when the yoga video told us to do it. It turns out, however, that men can do it too, so I'm going to be ready for our next round of pregnancy yoga.

I'd better call it a night. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!