Hoda Kotb is stepping into the next year of life with open arms and an open heart.
The Today co-anchor marked her 54th birthday on Thursday with a photo of herself and her 17-month-old daughter Haley Joy, hanging out on a wooden deck next to a kiddie pool.
Haley is the personification of her middle name in the touching snapshot, wearing a two-piece swimsuit and bearing a huge grin while her mama embraces her in a one-armed hug.
Kotb captioned her post, “54. And I get her. I can’t believe I get to do this .. #grateful”
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RELATED: Hoda Kotb Says Mother’s Day Has a “Different Meaning” Since Welcoming Daughter Haley
The longtime journalist has been open about how thankful she is and how enriched her life has become even more so since she adopted Haley following her birth on Valentine’s Day 2017.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’ve loved something for so long that I never saw, that I never felt, that I never touched — that I could only imagine,’ ” Kotb told co-anchor Savannah Guthrie during a May chat over wine in N.Y.C.’s Central Park, held in honor of Mother’s Day.
She added, “I am the most impatient person on the planet — I have no patience. I think [Haley has] taught me patience, and she’s taught me that no dream’s too big. If you believe in something, it may actually come true.”
RELATED VIDEO: Hoda Kotb Gushes About Her 1-Year-Old Daughter on The Dr. Oz Show
Ahead of Mother’s Day, Kotb revealed whether she plans on giving Haley a sibling — and the final answer might still be up in the air!
“Well, how should I say this? I guess ‘Never say never’ is the right way to put that!” she told PEOPLE, noting that “everything changed” in her life since she became a parent last year.
“I know who I am now. I’m Haley’s mom, and I think I always was,” she explained. “But if you would have asked me years ago, ‘What are you?’ I probably would have said journalist, first. But now I know who I am.”
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