TN/TD Visa taxes

[bigcanadiantoad]

My wife and I are from Canada and we are now living in the US under tn/td visa. My wife will pass the substantial presence test. We are looking at filing our 1040 jointly and applying for my ITIN at the same time. We are unsure about the whole process though and think we may be missing out on some things. We are currently trying to find a cross-border tax accountant but also reaching out here for help. I thought that we would report our canadian income on our canadian tax returns and include our departure dates and then my wife would report her us income on our joint 1040 and my income would be zero since I am not allowed to/havent earned an income on a td visa. I've been reading though that we might need to first do our US taxes then do our canadian taxes and declare my wifes US income on the canadian taxes as well then do some sort of tax refund credit? Really confused about the whole process. Would it be better to file jointly or seperately?