“Today” show host Hoda Kotb surprised her coanchors on Tuesday morning by revealing that she had adopted a second baby girl who she named Hope Catherine!
This is the second baby girl for the 54 year-old television host, who was already the mother of 2 year-old Haley Joy.
In a phone call with her cohosts, Hoda said that Haley has been running around saying “I’m a big sister” and has been trying to feed Hope raspberries for breakfast.
“This morning at breakfast [Haley] was trying to feed [the new baby] her raspberries and I was like, ‘Not yet, babe,”’ Hoda said. “She was literally marching around saying, ‘I’m a big sister.”’
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When cohost Jenna Bush Hager asked how “life with two” children is going, Hoda replied, “Oh, my gosh, you guys. She is laying on the Boppy pillow right now, I’m feeding her and I can’t believe it. Look — in life you think maybe you’ve gotten what you deserve, but, man, I’m so happy she is here.”
She added that both she and her longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman were there when Haley was born.
“Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby,” Hoda said. “And it’s the closest thing to a live birth I think you’ll ever see. In that moment … my heart just grew 10 times. It’s amazing. I just can’t believe it’s happening, y’all. I can’t.”
Hoda has previously been open about how long and difficult her road to motherhood has been. A battle with breast cancer ten years ago left her unable to conceive, and her two year marriage fell apart soon thereafter.
“One of the things in my life I’ve always wanted was to be a mom,” Hoda said in 2017. “Sometimes in your life, things just don’t work out for whatever reason, so you say, ‘Well, I wasn’t meant to have that.’ But it was really hard to come to terms with it.”
It was that same year that Hoda decided that she could still be a mom.
“Finally I said to myself one day, ‘Why can’t I? Why not me?'” Hoda explained.
We’re so happy for Hoda, and congratulate her on expanding her family!
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