Congratulations on lots of fun things in your life!
As for machines, we are a Pfaff house. We've never tried Janome, Viking, Bernina, Baby Lock, etc. The IDT on the Pfaff was a big selling point for us, although I understand other machines now have similar features. You should be able to find a Pfaff with some very useful features in your price range. Let us know what you decide.
Darren