Tired Spiral & Self-imposed Screen Ban

This morning, The Boy was talking about how he had a black eye (a couple of weeks ago, Frisbee mishap), but now it was gone. Then he looked at me and said, "But Mommy YOU have TWO black eyes!" pointing to just below his lower lids.

Sigh.

"No honey... those are just my 'mom eyes'."

I'm tired. Always tired. Sure, two small kids and one in the works will tire anyone out... but I admit... I do it to myself too.

I'm caught in the Tired Spiral right now...

Wake up late - morning is thrown off - stressed out - late for work - not productive at work - late leaving work - late getting home with kids - dragging tired self and family upstairs to do the bedtime routine - takes longer than it should because I'm tired - back down to kitchen to clean up, repack bags, make lunch, set up coffee maker...

So by this point it's 9:30 pm or so. What happens next?

Plunk tired self on couch, open laptop, turn on TV. Zone out.

By the time I drag myself up to bed it's 11 pm. If a kid doesn't wake up through the night, one or both will be up early. Turns out, this isn't enough sleep for me! Hit snooze three times, wake up late...

And, repeat. Tired Spiral.

Given that I need to be at work 8 hours of the day and kids need to eat a few times a day, and preferably be dressed before leaving the house, there are some things that just can't go. But screen time? That can go.

There are still things I need to do on my computer on a regular basis (like this!) but what I DON'T need to do is sit down and veg out for several hours. Not only is it a waste of time, it's causing me to lose sleep (once I'm down, it's very hard to get back up!), and that's not good for anyone.

So... I'm thinking about a self-imposed screen ban.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit scared about this. These are habits that are hard to break, especially when you are already so tired (but 9:00 pm seems way, way too early to just... go to bed). How can I cut out something like TV...? All the good shows just started again! Am I really that hooked on TV and my nightly online time that I can't just... turn it off?

No, I can do this. It's really not that big of a deal. But I need a few ground rules.

1. No screen time (TV, phone, laptop) after 9:00 pm
2. Only watch shows that I know I want to watch. None of this 'channel surfing'.
3. If I'm too tired to do anything but watch TV, I need to GO TO BED
4. No phones in the bedroom
5. Free-for-all Friday & Saturday nights. Woo! 
6. No snooze button! I have my alarm set for 6:35 am right now. I should be able to get up at that time.

And YES, before anyone jumps on me, I know... this will all change in a few short months when there's a newborn in the house! Believe me, I'm equally terrified about that, haha.

In the meantime, if anyone has any tips for me for how to just TUNE OUT and TURN OFF and get to bed at a reasonable time of day... please share.