The Today star’s older daughter was born on Feb. 14, 2017. While the Today host wasn’t present for the birth, she remembers learning about Haley from the adoption agency “like it was yesterday.”

During a June 2023 episode of the Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast, Kotb recalled being on the phone when she got a text message from her contact, Ashley, at the agency.

“I saw her name, I hung up the phone, I took a yellow pad out, and I wrote, ’11:55. This is the moment everything changes,’ I knew it,” she said. “And I took a deep breath and dialed the number, and I said, ‘Ashley?’ and she said two words to me. She said, ‘She’s here.’ “

“I don’t know what birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close,” she added.

Kotb later revealed on PEOPLE’s Me Becoming Mom podcast that she named her daughter after Halley’s Comet. “I knew her name was Haley. My sister and I, we’d talked about like Halley’s Comet. It’s like a once in a blue moon that something beautiful like that happens,” she explained.

On an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna in December 2023, Kotb opened up about how it felt to become an “older mom” for the first time at 52. “I am so happy and fulfilled with my decision that I don’t feel any ounce of shame,” she said.

In 2018, the Where We Belong: Journeys That Show Us The Way author told PEOPLE that Haley’s first word was “Bob.” “We don’t know who Bob is,” Kotb admitted. “Every time she said it we kept laughing going, ‘Who is Bob?’ I’m sure it was a combination of bottle and some other thing.”

The same year, Haley turned 1 while her mom was in PyeongChang, South Korea, for the Winter Olympics. Although they were apart for Haley’s actual birthday, Kotb made sure to celebrate her daughter before she left.

“It is already Valentine’s Day here in South Korea —- and i am missing my valentines baby👶🏼. We celebrated her bday before I left. Could have been better w camera placement. Love you little one,” she wrote on Instagram.

Haley served as Kotb’s inspiration for her children’s book I’ve Loved You Since Forever, which Kotb called a “love letter” on Today.

The 7-year-old has also joined her mother at work on the Today show. Haley first visited the NBC show as a baby in 2017 and joined Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Michelle Obama and Kelly Clarkson for an appearance on International Day of the Girl in 2018.

Haley embraced her role as a big sister after Hope arrived. Kotb spoke about her daughters’ bond while giving an update on Hope in May 2019. “They’re in love,” she said during a call on Today. “They’re just hanging out. She wakes up in the morning and kisses Hope, and when she goes down at night, she wants to give her a good night kiss.”

At the time, Kotb revealed that Haley had called Hope “my friend.” The news anchor added, “I just feel like she’s got a life partner, and I can’t tell you how that fills my heart to know that there’s somebody [who is] gonna hold her hand all the way through life.”

Hope Catherine Kotb, 5

Kotb announced in April 2019 that she had adopted her second child, Hope Catherine.

She later recalled in an interview with PEOPLE, “When I talked to [Joel] about two, I said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about something.’ I said, ‘I really feel like [Haley] should have a sibling … just to go through life with. It’s a long life she’s going to live.’ I want her to say, ‘That’s my brother, that’s my sister.’ “

As Kotb recalled, Schiffman replied, “What took you so long?” She applied to adopt again nine months after Haley’s arrival.

“Joel and I were standing there when they hand you the baby, and it’s the closest thing to a live birth I think you’ll ever see, but anyway in that moment, I was like, ‘Oh my God, my heart just grew,’” Kotb told her Today co-hosts after announcing that she had adopted again. “It’s amazing. Anyway I can’t believe it’s happening.”

Kotb and Schiffman had already decided on their baby’s name before Hope’s birth. “The name came because there are a lot of women out there who are hoping that their day is coming too, you know, and I know the feeling of it not happening for a long time,” Kotb said on Today.

Meanwhile, Hope’s middle name is a tribute to Kotb’s best friend Karen’s daughter, whose name is Catherine.

Kotb has described Hope as a “dream child.” On PEOPLE’s Me Becoming Mom podcast, the Today host said, “She is a dream child. It is as if they share the same blood. The same everything. She and Haley, they are intertwined. They hold hands. They don’t let go.”

In early 2023, Hope experienced health complications, causing her to spend time in the intensive care unit and the hospital. Later that month, Kotb gave PEOPLE an update on her daughter’s health. “Hope’s doing much better, much better,” the mom-of-two said. “I think it’s going to be a longer road, but she is doing great.”

A year later, Kotb spoke about Hope’s medical crisis in an interview with PEOPLE in March 2024, calling it a “scary stretch” for the family. While she didn’t share her diagnosis, Kotb did reveal that even though Hope’s condition has since “stabilized,” she is still being monitored consistently around the clock.

“Any parent who’s been through a scary thing with their child understands. It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick,” she said. “You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents. And it’s a position I’ve never found myself in.”

She also complimented Hope’s strength through it all.

“She just demonstrates that when you have whatever she has inside of her, this will, this fight, this everything . . . she can withstand anything. This child is going to have the easiest adulthood because she’s had a tough go of it early on,” she said.