Just keep at it man! It has taken me two years to actually really start having good awareness in lucid dreams as my first ones really weren't that official. Also when you do reality checks you need to be aware when you do them and know that in a dream what will happen. I mean, don't do them half minded, you need to know why you are doing them and really focus on them. Otherwise you could just get too used to them not working and doing them half minded that you they will likely have the same effect in dreams as they do in real life.

So just keep at it and be aware when you do reality checks to sum everything up. Good luck sir! Happy dreaming!

P.s I type up my dreams on my Ipod as well, pretty handy huh?