One thing is certain. . .

Four years ago my wife and I got to a point where we needed someone to do our taxes. She was working as a sub in two districts and as a teacher at a tutoring center that shall remain nameless and none of them were taking enough out in taxes. In addition I was doing more freelance work than before and needed to claim the money I made. That year (even with the help of a tax professional) we owed over $800.

Since then we've been working hard to break even, and on our 2006 taxes we came very close. Our 2007 taxes were on track to be perfect, not owing more than a few dollars not getting anything back. . . enter our little tax deduction. Now we're talking thousands back! We knew we'd get some back, but not this much. Between that and this spring's rebate we're getting a lot from our friendly neighborhood federal government.

I know, I know it's not good to get money back because it means they've been using your money to gain interest when you could have been doing the same. Because of this we've adjusted what's being taken for this year. Just for one year it's kind of nice though.

Having a baby can have it's perks.