Total and Utter Exhaustion

I'm wiped.  Completely and totally, can't think straight or hold my head up properly exhausted.  I left the television on TLC and unwillingly watched Toddlers and Tiara's (2 episodes) simply because I didn't have the energy to get up and find the remote control. 

Emmaline has been sleeping much better at night since we implemented the Sleep Easy Solution a couple months ago.  She used to wake up once every 45-90 minutes, now she wakes up 3 times per night.  She's out by 6:30, up to fuss for 10 minutes around 10:30, up to nurse between 1 and 2am, and up to nurse again at 4:44am (yes, it's this exact time), then back to sleep until 6am.  She's not getting enough total night sleep right now and neither am I. 

In my research, babies need 12ish hours of sleep per night.  No matter what time Emmaline goes to sleep, she's up by 6:30am at the absolute latest (usually she's up between 5 and 6am).  She goes to sleep best between 6 and 6:30pm.  We do our bedtime routine, I nurse her and snuggle, then put her in the crib and she rolls onto her side, snuggles into her blanket, and that's it.  If I try to put her down later, it's usually a game of how long I have to hold her before she's calm enough to go to sleep...  not fun...

When she wakes up around 10:30pm, I know she's working out something on her own and usually don't bother helping her back to sleep.  She fusses for 10-15 minutes tops and goes back to sleep on her own.

The 1am-ish wake up is acceptable-ish.  She was last nursed 7 hours ago so she may very well be hungry.  I wish (star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...) she could go just a couple hours longer because I really think that would stop....

The 4:44am waking.  I get it.  During the day, Emmaline nurses every 3-4 hours.  If she's up at 1:30am to nurse, she's going to wake up 3ish hours later to nurse again.  Dammit.

I can't complain.  Emmaline nurses quickly and goes back to sleep without a fuss most of the time.  I'm back in my own bed 15 minutes after getting up.  Only problem is it usually takes me another 15-45 minutes to chill back out and go back to sleep.  I'm missing out on so much sleep right now! 

Plus, I'm contemplating a job that would have me out of the house working nights 3 days per week!  Granted, this is a couple months down the road but it's still a possibility which means I need to a) get as much sleep as I can right now, b) get rid of at least 1 of Emma's night wakings since I won't be home to nurse her, and c) insure that Emma and I both will be able to get lots of quality sleep on the nights when I am home.

I've tried timing Emmaline's feeds and reducing them each night to wean her but she doesn't respond well to that.  She gets mad that I take the boob away before she's done and doesn't go back to sleep easily.  I cluster feed her in the evenings (nursing and feeding every 1-1.5 hours) so that she's nice and full and really satiated before bed.  I'm just not sure what to do to help my poor daughter (and my poor self) get a better nights' sleep!  We've already made a lot of progress.  Where do we go from here?

For me?  Right now?  I'm going to bed!