June.

On a late afternoon, I was sitting on the kitchen floor eating my Chocapic and watching “Morangos com Açúcar” when my mom called my sister and I. We went to the living room and she told us she was pregnant, to which I answered: “Ok, and? My Chocapic is getting soggy” — yup, you’ve got to love a teenager’s sensibility.

The truth is we already knew she was pregnant, so that was just a confirmation but I guess a ‘congratulations’ or a even a ‘ holy sh*t’ would have been a better reaction to such news, rather than a comment regarding my cereal. To be honest, I don’t remember what my sister said or if my mother said anything else at the time. I just remember getting back to the kitchen floor and finishing my cereal.

A few months later, I was in class when I got a call from my mother. I had told my teachers that my baby brother was due any time now so they allowed me to check my phone just in case I had to leave — and I sure had. My mother told me that her doctor called and it was show time.

My parents picked me up from school and we headed home to get my sister and my mother’s bag. We eventually got everything we needed and headed to Porto. My father was really nervous (like, really), so we got there pretty fast as he forgot about speed limits and drove like a crazy person even though my mother was fine. You see, my father had two girls and he never complained, but we all knew he would love to have a boy, and when that chance came when he was 49 years old, he took it very seriously. A few hours and anxiety attacks later (mainly from my parents as me and my sister were fine), there he was: my tiny wrinkled baby brother.

The next few days flew by. I visited my mother at the hospital every day with my father. Since my sister was already in University, she had to attend classes and exams, but she would join us when she could. After a couple of days we brought the baby home and the real challenges began. Who would say that a human being that small was capable of producing such loud noises? I was 16 years old when he was born. I probably had to miss a few friends’ birthday parties to stay home and help my mother — who was amazing through every step — but I wouldn’t change any of it.

Now, Adrianinho is quickly turning into Adriano and he keeps on surprising us every day. Not only is he super intelligent and kind, but he also has the most incredible sense of humour and speaks in irony and sarcasm, just like us. That day twelve years ago, when I was sitting on the kitchen floor eating Chocapic, I had no idea of how much my life would change; or rather how much all our lives would change just by adding a tiny person to the family.

The best part is, it definitely change for the better.