No, we can't! (sleep)

There isn't much Barack Obama has done in his first 87 days as US President that I would wish to argue with. But I cannot agree with his decision to protect those CIA agents who used sleep deprivation to torture terrorist suspects when George Bush was President.

To be fair, my annoyance comes with a confession: my name is Barry White and I am sleep deprived. Yes, our wee...erm...boy was up to his old tricks again last night. And how.

My light went off at around 11.30pm as is the general norm. Jamie had been settled for almost four hours by this stage and all seemed well. But, true to form, by 1.45am he was off.

I actually felt quite bright at this point and bounded in next door to be a parenting hero - no problem to a dad of my calibre, thought I. Wrongly.

He did go back down again after about 15 minutes following some water, a bit of stroking and a couple of silly voices. But he only lasted another 15 before he was up again. I must have gone back in at least half a dozen times over the next couple of hours plus and just couldn't get him settled.

Vanessa then took on the mantle and, after a further couple of hours, she managed to get him down for a whole hour - before he wailed again.

We conceded defeat at that point - it was 6am by now - and brought him into our room for his morning milk before putting him down in our bed. (Vanessa did all the work after I decided to stage a silent protest against his antics).

But the picture above vividly illustrates why we don't like doing this. The left side of the bed as you look at it, is where you'll normally find me (if you're a burglar or perhaps are just lost). You can clearly see Jamie's head very much to the right of centre with, below the duvet, his feet parallel to the headboard. And, circled in red, is Vanessa's head - shoved so far off the bed she's almost in the spare room.

I took the photo before leaving for work - both mother and baby were asleep at this point. And I was almost out on my feet. It's been a very long day since then.

So, I must say to President Obama, your stand in favour of those nasty sleep deprivers is wrong and disappoints me greatly.

"Yes, we can!" was Barack's rallying call during his election campaign. But for Mother and Father White - thanks to their disruptive little...BOY...when it comes to sleep, for now and for the foreseeable future, it looks like it going to continue to be a case of "No, we can't!"

Still, it's Friday evening so let's not get too downhearted.