Today star Hoda Kotb has officially published her new children’s book, I’ve Loved You Since Forever, which was inspired by her baby daughter, Haley, whom she adopted in February 2017. During Today‘s Tuesday, March 6 broadcast, Hoda showed a sweet clip where she opened up about how her little girl changed everything for her.

Becoming a mom later in life (she was 52 years old) really altered her perspective, she shared. “I used to think that work was the most important thing in the world. I just did. But I didn’t know what really mattered until you came along,” Hoda said. “You arrived and everything changed.”

She added that she actually came up with the book’s title long before she even met Haley. “When I was waiting for you, hoping for you, wishing for you, I wrote down, ‘I’ve loved you since forever,’ because I knew you were out there somewhere. And we were going to find each other,” Hoda added. “Sometimes all you can do is pray, hope, wish, want, dream, and then wait — and you arrived.”

Hoda is raising Haley with her longtime boyfriend, Joel Schiffman, and while they’re the perfect family, Hoda has admitted she really values those times when it’s just her and Haley alone together. “There’s something about you and me and the dark, just the two of us,” she gushed. “I’m holding you, and I still think to myself, ‘I can’t believe I get you. I get to have you.'”

The TV personality explained that Haley was named after Haley’s Comet. “Because you are a bright light in the sky, and I happen to be the other star. And here we are, out here, on opposite ends,” Hoda shared. “We were really always connected and somehow these two lights were going to come together and eventually. You and I turned into ‘we.'” How sweet — now we can’t wait to read Hoda’s new book!

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