Hoda Kotb takes an emotional look back at her first year as the proud mom of baby girl Haley Joy

TODAY -- Pictured: Hoda Kotb brings her daughter Haley Joy on the Today Show on Friday, May 12, 2017 -- (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

With the adoption of her first child, daughter Haley Joy, “The Today Show” host Hoda Kotb has had quite an eventful 2017. In a piece for “TODAY,” the proud mom reflected on her first year of motherhood.

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“If I had to describe my year in one word, it would be rebirth, because I feel like my life started in 2017,” she wrote. “I feel like I had a life before, but I don’t remember it, and it seems incredibly insignificant compared to what happened in 2017.”

She declared this year the year she “figured out what mattered.” For the host, this past Valentine’s Day “changed everything” as it was the day she adopted her daughter, and meeting the little girl was her favorite memory of the year.

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“I was in a room — this room where I guess so many moms-to-be have waited for their child — and I was standing there, and I heard her outside the door,” she recalled the emotional moment. “I heard her crying. And my heart was just pounding, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, my God, I hear her.’ They opened up the door and this woman walked in, holding her, and handed her to me. And literally, when they put her in my arms, it was like the missing piece. Without hesitation. She fit. I wept so hard that I worried they thought I was crazy.”

“That moment was the moment my heart felt at peace. I felt the most peaceful I’ve ever felt in my life right then, and every day since,” she continued. “I know motherhood has its trappings, but when you’ve waited as long as I have for it, you don’t think about that.”

With almost a year of motherhood under her belt, Kotb admitted it’s nothing like what she imagined.

“I just didn’t know what I was capable of. I guess I didn’t know what was missing in my life,” she said. “I thought my life was full. I had great family, great friends, a great boyfriend, a great job. I have a great life! And sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing until you find it, and that’s really what happened. I didn’t realize how much of a hole I had in my heart, that only she could fill. It’s like a Haley-sized hole got filled. And she did it in one second.”

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Now, Kotb says Haley Joy is “the cure” to all that ails her because all she has to do is look at her precious baby girl, and all her problems “melt away.” She’s hoping that sense of peace follows her and her family into the new year.

“In 2018, I’m looking forward to more firsts with Haley,” Kotb wrote. “I didn’t think I’d have firsts at 53! I’m so excited about all of it. I love our family. One thing I’ve been trying to do, in a world of chaos, is make peace in our home. I want Haley to feel peaceful in our home. I want (my boyfriend) Joel to feel peaceful when he goes off to work. Let the world do what it does — I can’t do anything about that — but I can control one little thing.”

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