I have been using my sites for just over a year. At first they did not make my loads of money. Last August I hit new highs with my first $23 day. Since then things slipped away but I never gave up, now with a chain of three websites and growing, AdSense is finally bringing in some amazing cash. The reason I am posting this is because so many people expect instant results, it is not always the case, just be patient and keep trying.
It always takes lot of time. Even if you see sometimes quick increase of your earnings (on the 1st or 2nd month), it will be temporary and they will fall again. Usually it needs 6-12 months for the high earnings to become steady.
Congrats buddy. I'm also patient like you. At first I got few earning, but when websites got indexed in search engine, then the earning grows very well.
I'm happy for you, but I don't know if I agree. If you've got a site about blow up balloon animals I think you'll be waiting many years for the money to come in. But a site about attorneys will probably pay off a lot sooner. You can always split the difference and do a site about balloon attorneys.
I am not steadily expanding. Using the money I earn every month, I buy another site and promote that as well. I have done so much testing that I know what works for placements and colors pretty well now.