Buying a new DSLR.Need advice.

I have a T1i and I love it. T3i sounds fantastic. My recommendation if you can afford it is to buy just the camera body and the best lens you can afford. The lens that comes with the camera is mediocre at best. I have the Tamron 18-270 and hardly ever use anything else. The motion stabilizer is great.

Do some research on low light capabilities and pixel count. When i was shopping Nikon had the definite advantage in low light. (How high you can set the ISO before you get a light of noise.) Canon had the higher pixel count. From what I read about the T3i Canon has closed the gap in the low light category.