I did it!!!! Finally lol.
I'm not quite sure what made me realize I was dreaming, but once I realized it, it was REALLY hard to not get overexcited. At first, everything started going really shaky, it almost felt like I was drunk and seeing double vision. After that I had several false awakenings in a row, each of them lasting about 30 seconds or so. I think it's because I was so determined to keep things going, so I just kept waking myself up in a new dream every time things started becoming too unstable. Mostly, the false awakenings just consisted of me realizing I was STILL dreaming and getting too excited again, but at one point, I gained control enough to fly through my bedroom window, and the view from outside was beautiful. I was about 4 or 5 stories high looking down on a huge parking lot lit up by street lights. It was like someone had written all over the ENTIRE parking lot with sidewalk chalk in big swirly writing, and I flew over it and tried to remember some of the messages, but no such luck.
Anyway. I'm rambling now, sorry. I'm just so excited!