Kristen Welker is back from maternity leave after welcoming her first child, daughter Margot Lane, in June.
On Friday, the Weekend TODAY co-anchor appeared on TODAY with her husband, John Hughes, to show off their baby girl and talk about what life has been like since they became a family of three.
“The last few months have really been, I think, the best of our whole lives and we are just so in love with Margot,” she said.
“She is the love of our lives and every day is a new adventure and just watching the world through her eyes is the greatest gift and joy and blessing so we're just doing so great.”
She also said being a mom has lived up to the vision she had in her mind.
“I spent so many years thinking about, dreaming about motherhood, struggling, fighting for this moment and motherhood was even more amazing and is even more amazing than I could have ever imagined,” she said.
John is also over the moon about their little girl.
“It's been a really wonderful experience. It's completely changed everything. All the routines are out the window but at the center of our lives now, we have this bubbly, talkative, really spunky little bundle of joy, so we couldn't be happier. She's been a true blessing.”
Kristen also said there’s a bond between Margot and John.
“Every time John walks into the room, she lights up and starts giggling,” she said. “They already have that sweet little daddy-daughter relationship.”
Earlier this week, Kristentold Hoda Kotb she “worries” about missing Margot when she’s at work.
“I miss Margot when I put her to bed at night. I sneak into her room just to look at her,” she revealed on SiriusXM’s “The Hoda Show” Monday. “John is like, "She's sleeping peacefully. Why are you going in there?' And I'm like, 'I just want to look at her.'"
But the NBC News co-chief White House correspondent also feels grateful to be returning to a job she loves.
“I’m grateful to come back to what is really a family,” she said. “I feel as ready as I can feel, if you can ever feel ready, because it’s going to be a transition. I mean, I went out to run a couple of errands the other day and I’m checking the (baby) monitor every two minutes.”
Kristen, who is unable to carry a child, became a mom with the help of a surrogate on June 12.
“In the weeks leading up to the birth and the delivery, I was a little nervous because I hadn’t carried her,” the 45-year-old said while chatting with Hoda. “I had this little seed of self-doubt. Will I have that maternal instinct?”
But everything fell into place when she assisted with the birth by catching Margot.
“And so, as she was being born, I stretch my hands out … and in that moment, Hoda, all of that self-doubt went away,” she explained. “And all I felt was this bond and this overwhelming sense of love and connection that I’d never felt for another human being before.”
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