Excluding a Category using wp_query – with working page navigation

I was having problems with the page navigation(empty pages or staying on the first page w/excluded categories) so i decided to use this wp_query code for my blog loop which is NOT on the homepage:

<?php twentyeleven_content_nav( 'nav-above' );
     <?php /* Start the Loop */ ?>

<?php //query_posts('paged='.$paged);
	$temp = $wp_query;
	$wp_query= null;
   	$wp_query = new WP_Query();
        $wp_query->query('showposts=5'.'paged='.$paged); ?>

<?php $recentPosts = new WP_Query();
      $recentPosts->query('showposts=5'.'&paged='.$paged) ?>
<?php while ($recentPosts->have_posts()) : $recentPosts->the_post(); ?>

<?php get_template_part( 'content', get_post_format() ); ?>
	<?php endwhile; ?>
        <?php $wp_query = null; $wp_query = $temp;?>

<?php twentyeleven_content_nav( 'nav-below' ); ?>

Page Navigation is working,
but now I’m having problems excluding a category.
Any code I found with an excluded category messed up the pave nav.
I want to exclude two categories and have a working page navigation, but I continue to go in circles.