Brazilian couple with 13 sons vows to keep having kids until they have a daughter

Brazilian couple with 13 sons vows to keep having kids until they have a daughter

Mangalore Today News Network

Aug 03, 2017: This married couple from Brazil recently celebrated the birth of the newest edition of their family, a boy. This newborn marks the couple’s thirteenth child, and amazingly, they are all boys. Now, the couple vows that they will continue to have children until a new señorita is born.

 

Ireneu Cruz, a 40-year-old farmer, and his lovely wife, Jucicleide Silva, from Concei ao de Coit, Brazil, have been married for 20 years. When the couple was preparing to have their first child, the two made an agreement: the husband would name the boys, and the wife would name the girls. So far, Jucicleide has not named a single one of their 13 children—every single one of them are boys.

“When Jucicleide first got pregnant we agreed she could choose the girls’ names and I would choose the names if they were boys,” said Cruz.

 

“I’ve always admired players like Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and Robinho.”

“All the best footballers seemed to have a name beginning with R, so as more and more boys came along, I decided to celebrate South American football by naming my sons after the players I liked.”

Last fall, the couple welcomed their newest son, Ronaldo, into the world. They were hoping number 13 would be the “lucky one”—their very first señorita, but when the midwife broke the news that it was not, they only vowed to keep on trying.

In addition to being a big football fan, Ireneu also referees football games between his sons and the village’s football team each weekend. He also dreams that one day, his sons will become football stars.

“It would be amazing if one of our boys ended up playing for Brazil,” he said. “They are all good footballers particularly Robson and Rauan who are our star strikers.”

“The exception is Reinan who prefers chasing girls.”

“We don’t have any medals,” he said. “When we win, we get a goat or a box of drink and some food for the children.”

Of all their boys, the oldest is 18, while the youngest is still less than a year old. All of their children—Robson, 18, Reinan, 17, Rauan, 15, Rubens, 14, Rivaldo, 13, Ruan, 12, Ramon, 10, Rincon, 9, Riquelme, 7, Ramires, 5, Railson, 3, Rafael, 2, and their newest member, Ronaldo—are named in honor of Ireneu’s favorite football stars.

According to experts, the odds of a couple having 13 boys in a row are 1 to 8,000. That makes the Cruz household one of the rarest in the world.

Although Jucicleide has yet to name a single one of her children, she says she is happy with her male-dominated family. She said:

“Every lunch time I cook a kilo of rice, a kilo of beans and an extra-large packet of macaroni.”

“Of course there are times when things are tough but nobody ever goes hungry.”

“If we have one loaf of bread, it’s divided and shared between everybody.”

“The good thing is that all my boys are well behaved.”

She nevertheless hasn’t given up hope of holding that first beautiful señorita in her arms—a new little sister to join the team.