Hi Empress and welcome to the board. It sounds like your plate is pretty full right now. I do know of several professional (and famous) LAQ that got their longarms with very young ones at home. Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts was just kicking off her business when she was pregnant with her 4th child and the other 3 were still very young. But quilting was her FT job and with her husband, she has built a very successful business. Another is Angela Walters, again I am pretty sure that quilting was her FT job. Margaret Solomon Gunn is another. Although her kids are now getting into their teens.
What kind of quilting are you planning to do with your LA? If E2E (pantos, all over designs that ignore the piecing) I would definitely not take the plunge at this stage of your life. But if you are going to pursue full on hand guided (not computer driven) custom quilting then I think you should take some days off from your work, get a sitter and actually enroll in some hands on longarming classes in the upcoming expo you mention in May. The reason I differentiate between hand guided vs computer driven and custom as opposed to E2E (pantos or CD E2E) is that you can continue to utilize the services of a pro with CD and E2E. Unless your passion is creating designs and digitizing them. But I think a $20K price tag is not a computer driven setup. It may include pantovision, hard to say without knowing all the features the dealer is including.
I do have an Innova and I love it. And it is one of the few brands out there that is super adaptable and you can add on things down the road (including the belts and box for Computer driven) and it does not cost any different than if you bought it as a package up front. I saved up so did not finance my machine (I am extremely debt averse). I bought a used dealer Demo and researched a full year before taking the plunge. My machine is a 26" on 10' frame standard SR that was upgraded to Lightening Stitch last year. The L/S is definitely something you want. I only had room for a 10ft frame but I can tell you I would much prefer a larger frame. The widest quilt I can fit on my frame is 100" and then I barely have room on the side to change bobbins, put the side clamps on and only a very small area to check my tension. So I try not to do anything that wide.
Prior to investing in a LA I had been quilting for 20 years. Mostly hand quilting with a bit of dabbling on DSM FMQ and lots of walking foot straight line quilting. I took a certification course to rent so I already knew I liked doing it. I don't have kids and I do still work full time. I am 59. I have fibro and mild CFS, not debilitating, except sometimes when I have a bad crash and need to sleep a lot. Mostly I need to sleep a minimum of 9 to 10 hours per day. Longarming does take a toll on the body. When I first got my machine 9 years ago I could easily stand at it 5 to 6 hours a day, even some 8 hour days occasionally. Now 4 hours seems to be my maximum. I did hit the ground running with my longarm. So not everyone has the steep learning curve. But I would say I am not the norm but I am not the only one. I have a few longarming friends (who were also hand quilters) that did amazing work as soon as they started playing. But they also did not have young kids to distract or interrupt them.
So when you say life is is short, this is true and while you have a full plate right now, you also have the stamina and energy of youth. But you also have commitments to your children and family (both time and financial) as well as a FT job. Only you can make the final decision to go forward this quickly. It sounds like you are taking a lot of the right steps. Don't let the dealer pressure you into a quick sale. Believe me, there will always be dealer demos, specials and the occasional trade in (but most of us Innovians do not trade in, unless it is to upgrade to a larger throat). Good luck in whatever you decide and I hope you hang around the board and participate no matter where your quilting journey takes you.