Ahhhh The ever-elusive SLEEP, or lack thereof

Sleep and I have a love-hate relationship. I LOVE to sleep, and I HATE when I can't. And I can't more often than I'd like. Sleep has always been somewhat elusive to me. I am a BIG TIME night-owl, so I find it EXTREMELY hard to go to sleep early (much before midnight). I am now a very light sleeper, so I need the right conditions: QUIET, dark, comfortable. And without enough of this precious commodity, all heck breaks loose in my life--and the headaches are ripe to return.

Last night was NOT a good sleeping night. I was up until 1 am. At 2:55 am, Toph was up, crying to me: "I didn't get to come downstairs and spend time with you last night." (At bedtime, I'd made the kids a deal, because they said (liars!) that they weren't tired. If they were still awake at 9:30--90 minutes--they could come downstairs and spend time with me. I knew they'd never make it.)
Me: Are you kidding me? It' 3 o'clock in the morning!
Toph (still crying): But I didn't get to have my special time with you.
Me: It's NOW 3 in the morning. You didn't get to do it last night, because YOU WERE ASLEEP, just like you were supposed to be. I never thought you'd be awake at 9:30. You did what you were told to do--go to sleep.
Toph: But I wanted to come back downstairs. (I'm realizing now that he's kind-of awake, but not fully functioning.)

We cuddled for a few minutes, and then I asked if he was ready to go back to bed. The answer: NO.

Toph: Could we go downstairs for our special time now?
Me: NO, it's THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING! We're supposed to be sleeping right now. What would we do downstairs in the middle of the night. (Clearly, I'm getting frustrated by this point.)

Toph did stop crying and I walked him back to bed and turned on his Ipod. Both kids sleep with music going at night, and have since they were little. I'll do almost anything to keep them sleeping, and I don't mind the music playing all night, because it's supposed to be quiet. It's calming music--Toph leans toward classical or reverent church songs.

15 minutes later: "Mom, my music stopped playing."
Me: Ok, you DO remember how to turn it back on, right? Please turn it back on and go back to sleep.
So he did, but he turned it on louder--Toph likes his music loud.

I waited about 5 minutes, and decided that I'd be listening to his music for the rest of the night instead of sleeping and went in and turned it down. He complained but I explained that the neighbors didn't need a concert at 3 in the morning.

20 minutes later: Toph gets up to use the bathroom and turns his music up louder again--not quite as loud as the first time.

20 minutes after that: I got up and turned his music down--HE was asleep, but I was not. Sometime AFTER FIVE, I fell back to sleep......

5:55 am: Hannah gets up and comes in my bedroom: "Hi Mom. The sun is waking up, and I'm not sleepy any more." (For those of you who don't know Hannah very well, she's NOT a morning person by ANY stretch of the imagination, so seeing her and talking to her this early is really unusual.)
Me: Hannah, it's NOT even SIX o'clock in the morning. You need to get back in bed and try to go back to sleep, or you'll be too grumpy later. (And I'm too tired to deal with life right now.)
Hannah: But I'm not sleepy any more.
Me: PLEASE, go try. Lay down and close your eyes and listen to your music, and just rest. At SEVEN, if you're still awake, you can get up, okay?
Hannah: Okay.

Some might wonder where Robert was during all of this activity......He'd fallen asleep in his chair downstairs last night, and he never woke up enough to make it upstairs. I used to try to get him to move, but now I wake him up twice and tell him that I'm going to bed, and if he wakes up, he comes upstairs.

Hannah went back to bed and was pretty quiet for a little while. I tried, mostly in vain, to go back to sleep, but didn't really manage to do more than catnap. When I got up, and the sun was REALLY awake, I had the WORST headache! So my morning started with 2 extra-strength Excedrin. When I get a good migraine going, LIGHT and NOISE really affect me.

I managed to make it to Church, but it seemed louder than usual--lots of happy kids! After Church, we ALL were supposed to take naps. Hannah SAYS she did, but she woke Toph up pretty soon after naptime started. Robert stayed downstairs, and was trying NOT to nap (so he could get better sleep tonight). The kids got up and played upstairs pretty quietly for a little while, and then were quiet downstairs. THANK YOU VEGGIE TALES MOVIES! I managed a short nap, and my head is somewhat better tonight.

I just want to know WHY sleep has to be such a battle for me?! I'd like to be more like Robert. He can sleep anywhere, any place, in any conditions, and in about 5 seconds. Must be nice!