Routine - yeah, right!

With an eye on the calendar and a fat scary entry on 12. Feb. - "return to work" - we are trying trying trying to get a routine going that will make life, well, possible, on and after that date.
Here's what's most scary about it:
Mummy will have to get up regularly and early. Sounds scary to you? Sound near-impossible to me! Why not continue cuddling Tara in bed every morning until my little Miss Gorgeous decides to wake up? Now, THAT sounds good to me! She is so warm, so beautiful, so cuddly, and unless she's been puking her head off overnight, or hasn't had a bath in weeks, she smells sooo good too. I love wrapping round her and watching her sleep as I drift in and out of sleep myself, half busy adoring my baby, half busy dreaming up interesting alterate lives, and not getting up until it suits me. - Jose, for those who don't know, has been chucked out of our bed and sleeps on the floor. On a mattress, of course. There, here can indulge his horrible habits of HoggingTheBlankets, RollingOverCarelessly, and TakingUpSpaceInGeneral. He sleeps much sounder and better than I do. My sleep is sweeter and longer. Tara just sleeps as and when she wants. Or doesn't, which must change.
So for once I've not only bought a book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, but also read it. It's full of good advice, most of which I'm not yet ready to try (what do you mean, pluck my babe off the breast she so likes and so likes to fall asleep with!), but as every other anything about kids and sleep, it preaches routine, routine, routine. So I made a beautiful plan, which read like this:
6.30 - 7pm quite play time (daddy?)
7 - 7.20pm bath (mummy/daddy?)
7.20 - 7.40pm massage naked baby (mummy loves massages so surely baby does too), play nice classical music as auditory sleep-time cue (mummy/daddy?)
7.40pm stick baby on nipple, sing good night song as another definate sleep time cue, baby to fall asleep peacefully, fall off nipple full satified and deep asleep, mummy free to go and get on with her newly acquired adult evening life.
It worked for a day. Tara must have been tired. The next time round she woke after a 30 minute nap, commenced staring at random sources of light, then commenced cooing, had a little puke and would still have the nipple back, thank you, but would not doze back off. So we began to understand Tara's interpretation of her new night time routine as it emerged over the next few days:
Some time after 6pm playtime with daddy. Daddy is Spanish and therefore has no concept of 'quiet'. Lots of shrieking.
Some time after that: Bath with mummy (daddy scared of drowning baby in tummy tub). Tara refuses to sit down in her tummy tub, makes a splash or two, holds on to the rim and finally chooses to try and eat it. Mummy forgets to wash under smelly armpit but never mind, this is about routine, not cleanliness.
Then: Massage of naked baby. Music playing. Start with feet. Baby pulls feet to mouth and licks off oil. Not good. Baby pees. Not good either but anticipated. Baby has a great time being naked sucking oily toes, so we stretch massage time a bit until, oops, we're too tired to change into pyjamas. Nappy - underwear - pyjama - sleeping bag - howling commences while putting nappy on. Howling stops as we lie down and get the boobies out. By now we're in bed and Jose is downstairs. Classical music still plays, I can't reach the player to switch it off, nonetheless have a go at our good night song, but go horrible off as I'm distracted by the persistent classical background. Tara doesn't mind and falls asleep.
I try to unpluck nipple to break free. Tara opens eyes and mouth and won't have any of it.
Try to break free again, Tara opens eyes and mouth and just waits patiently to have her nipple returned. Finally falls off. Mummy sneaks downstairs.
Tara wakes after a nap and I'm convinced she was convinced that coming back downstairs to hang out on the sofa with mum and dad to about midnight was part of the routine. It wasn't.

We've made progress since and have now worked out that Tara is able to stay in bed for 12 hours if I stay with her and present her with milky nipple at crucial wake up points, or come running the second she makes a sound if I do decide to sneak down. Unfortunatly those 12 hours are not consistent with office/work-life get up times yet, at all. 9/10pm to 9/10am is our speciality. Try for 7-7 or 8-7 and you're facing the nap situation with generous sofa time before midnight. It's due to the day time nap routine which is a difficult trick too. But we're getting there I think. Hope. Pray. The calendar definately IS getting there.