The incredible shrinking emergency fund

At least people are giving us free stuff

I've never had a safety net in terms of parents or other relatives I could go to for help therefore I'm extremely risk adverse to removing large sums of money from my savings accounts.  When I was single and lived in my condo, I had a large emergency fund saved up.  Essentially I had 1 year of mortgage payments, utilities and other expenses socked away.

Fast forward to November 2012 when we bought our house.  I used some of that savings of course as the down payment.   I didn't have enough to make 20% so I only put 5% because after what we learned from the last bust, why put more down?

Then some Life Roadblocks hit.  Of course I had to eat Jan-Mar mortgage on the condo before getting a tenant.  Then we had to help bail out my bad-decision jean wearing, financially irresponsible mother.  On top of that we got hit with a large tax bill.  Then there was the flood in May.  Some other expenses along the way have dinged and zinged our emergency fund as well as my own savings. 

And now that we are on the verge of having babies with all the expenses of daycare and schooling and whatnot, along with the uncertainty of life in Corporate America, I just gotta say, I am one stressed out puppy.