Hoda Kotb knows who brings her sunshine on a cloudy day. On April 18 — one day after the Today cohost returned to the NBC show following a two-month maternity leave — she shared a sweet Instagram photo with 9-week-old daughter Haley Joy.
“My girl,” the 52-year-old captioned the shot of herself holding the “Valentine’s baby” she adopted in February.
During her return to the morning show, Kotb told cohosts Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer that motherhood is “everything” to her. “I’m feeling great,” added the Ten Years Later author, through tears. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”
Or quite so weepy. In a pre-taped segment, Kotb joked that her daughter “probably thinks it’s raining in her nursery, because I’m always looking at her and crying on her.”
But for Kotb, it’s difficult to hold back the tears of joy. “You think that by a certain stage in your life, I’ve had every experience that I’ve had,” she said during the segment, “and then all of a sudden she shows up. I feel like in my life, I’ve had joy beyond what I could have imagined, but this is beyond a dream. Like, you had your dreams — and then this. I never believed in love at first sight until now.”
