My late night bursts of energy

My wife and I have noticed that every night, once baby has gone to bed, we get this burst of energy and stay awake much later than we should.  Last night I didn't get into bed until almost 11:00, then I read in bed for at least another 20 minutes!  What was I thinking?  Clearly I was not thinking about getting up early to feed baby, then getting up for the day shortly after that.

Everyone knows having a baby messes up your sleep schedule, but exactly how it changes is something I was completely unprepared for.  I used to have a job where I'd get up for work at 3am one week, then work from 3pm until 1am but often 2 or 3am.  I've had crazy, inconsistent sleep schedules.  This is different.

We have a bedtime routine that begins somewhere around 6pm.  We feed baby "solid food," which at this point consists of rice cereal mixed with formula in one dish and mashed fruit in another.  We've done apple, avocado, pear, sweet potato, and nectarine, and it's lots of fun to watch baby's reactions to each.  We feed him and every second night bathe him, then read some books on our bed and feed him a bottle.

I've been having a hard time the last few nights staying awake past story time.  We take turns reading books then sing a little and feed baby a bottle, but two nights ago I fell asleep for about three hours myself.  I missed my dinner!  That of course messed with my ability to sleep that night, and I was up late again.

What I need to do is start taking a nap when baby goes down in the day.  He naps three times in the day, and usually I try to use that time to do things I can't do while he's awake.  I watch TV, clean the apartment, or work on one of my ongoing projects that litter our place and annoy my wife.  I have a lot of half finished things going on at any given moment, and I add about two projects for every one I finish or give up on.

The point is this: as tempting as it is to stay up and enjoy the freedom of a 6 month-old in bed for the night, go to sleep!  We only get up once each in the night to feed him, but once the sun is up he is ready for the day.  I need to either go to bed when he does or within an hour or two; these last morning have been really difficult and I don't want to be exhausted forever.