"We live in the Outer Sunset, right by the ocean and Golden Gate Park. We have been here just over a year now. We moved in the week I found out I was pregnant with my second, Marly. We had a hard time finding a place in S.F.—we moved here from Venice, CA two years ago—and had moved 2-3 times in two years! It was rough with a young baby in a new city. But I am so happy we finally found this house."

"We are lucky—it's a fairly blank canvas for a rental. I like to keep things simple, then add in warm textiles and art. Most of our things are made by friends or have been collected on our travels. I am not precious, I can’t be, really, as Sonny, my 3-year-old, will move things, blankets, and pillows from room to room and build forts and construction sites. It's fairly small, so we have to be careful with what we add, also moving makes you really question what you need. I think my aesthetic has softened by being in California and also now having kids it’s more colorful and eclectic, as it's their home, too."

"It’s a mix of simple and personal things. We toy with the idea of moving back to the U.K. all the time, so I'm hesitant to buy any big or expensive furniture, although I long to have a proper home! We have a lot of art, I did swaps with friends at college and we collected a lot in London and then as we’ve travelled. It's a nice reminder of where we have been/who we have met."

Sonny wears an H&M top and Gap shorts. Amy wears a Saint James for J.Crew top and vintage Levi's. Marly wears a sweater knitted by her grandma and pants by Gap.

"All the art, mostly friends' work from London. I do need to start collecting some from San Francisco artists. The woodcut prints are by Stanley Donwood who did the the artwork for Thom Yorke’s Eraser album. We bought them from a show in L.A. when we lived there. Also, my vintage chairs—they all have stories of how I collected them. I am a bit obsessed, my husband tells me I can’t buy any more! And the textiles I have mostly screen-printed myself or are from friends. I love our sofa blankets, one is from Joinery and the other is Pendleton."

"Initially I hoped Sonny's stuff would stay in his room, but we all end up playing in the living room. It's light and there is more space. We have nice baskets, which help to keeps things vaguely organized, but it does get very messy. I don’t mind—he's really into imaginative play and it's really fun to encourage it. He's using kitchen equipment and Legos and anything really to build imaginary things. I'm not allowed to sit on the sofa at the moment as it’s his construction site. We do a big tidy up once in awhile and any toys not being used I put away."

"I still can't quite believe I birthed two humans! I love hanging out with them with no time constraints or plans. Sonny is hilarious and loves to sing and dance and play drums (cardboard boxes). I am excited to see Marly grow, and what she is interested in. She is more interactive now and he really makes her laugh a lot, which is magical."

"Most things. I overthink things a lot. I try to focus on the present and not get too far ahead of myself."

"My mum, and my husband's mum are amazing women. My sister, too, who has a son close to Sonnny’s age. I miss not being near them. My friends from TOMS, where I used to work. We had our first and second children together and we still keep in touch. I also love seeing mums who are starting their own businesses, doing creative things. I love seeing my friends become mums, too."

"Mother Mag, of course! I tend not to look at any other. I don't really have time and also they just make you worry you are doing things wrong. With Sonny I did find The Baby Whisperer book helpful at times, I felt a bit out of control and it helped me find a bit of a rhythm. With Marly I'm more confident and to be honest she has to just fit in. I really do think you can get overwhelmed with advice, so you have to follow your own instincts."

"My younger sister, Ella, has special needs and so both of my parents still care for her. Now that I have my own kids, it's really made me see them in a different way. They are incredible, their patience is beyond words. We learned some techniques growing up with Ella and I try to keep them in mind with Sonny and Marly. It's fairly obvious stuff—calm, positive reinforcement and making sure you follow through with your words and actions. It's simple but not always easy to do when you are tired and emotional. They also encouraged me and my older sister to do what we enjoyed. She is a musician and composer. I respect them for encouraging us to do what we loved."

"Oh wow. That first 8 weeks! I found it pretty hard and intense. Trying to recover with a 3-year-old around was brutal, and no sleep again was hard. I questioned being so far away from family. My mum came out for 3 weeks, which was a great help (my water broke as I picked her up from the airport), but I still struggled for the first few weeks and thought I'd never leave the house with the two of them on my own! But after 8 weeks things clicked a bit more and we found our new normal. I learned that I had to just go with it. Also any 'me' time I had has completely vanished, so has time with my husband. We are actually in a bit of a tough patch at the moment, as Marly is doing a strange sleep regression and Sonny won’t go to bed before 10 p.m.! But I know it will pass as all things do. I'm trying to enjoy the chaos. "

"Having a daughter! I was expecting her to be a mini Sonny, but she's a completely new being, of course. And Sonny as a big brother is really lovely to watch. She loves him so much, and I love that they have each other. The newborn stage is much less scary and I'm enjoying it this time around. Also, I am much better at asking for help, so my husband Matthew has a great bond with her, too."

Marly wears OskKosh overalls and a Goat-Milk top. Amy wears a Black Crane top and vintage Levi's.

"She's in our room right now. I'm hoping she will eventually share with Sonny, but we’re not quite brave enough to move her in. She's only 5 months and I'm breastfeeding, so it's easier to have her close to me. Also, I'm not sure Sonny is ready for that yet either. These last few weeks we are having a rough time with both of them waking, so we need to get through that first. I hope it's just a phase!"

"I think not. It's hard saying that, as both me and my husband are 1 of 3. But I feel I'm lucky with what we have."

"My oldest is Woodson James Hirst. We knew his middle name would be James after Matthew’s younger brother who died 15 years ago. We all randomly met on a border crossing between Guatemala and Belize—we all happened to be traveling through South and Central America at the same time. I was lucky enough to know James and travelled with them for a while around Mexico. That is also how I met my husband Matthew. With Woodson, we kind of made it up! We wanted to call him Sonny, but thought he may want another choice, so we liked the name Woodson. Our daughter is Marly Rose Blythe Hirst. Marly is named after a small town, just outside Paris, where Matthew grew up. I loved the name, but was hesitant for almost two weeks about committing. We got chased by the birth certificate people so much, but I was just so tired and couldn’t think straight. Rose was the name of our street in Venice, and Blythe is my mother’s maiden name."

"Maternity leave was the biggest issue for me. We have lived in the U.S. for 6 years now and I had Sonny in L.A. I was pretty anxious about going back to work after 3 months, which was generous by U.S. standards, but then I ended up not going back at all. It was circumstantial, too, we moved to San Francisco when he was 6 months and new visas meant I couldn't work. It was a blessing in disguise and I ended up being with him for 18 months. He has been back to the U.K. a lot and has a great relationship with both sets of grandparents who are a big influence in his life. I think school will be the big change for us all culturally, as it’s a totally different system. And he will lose his British accent!"

"Be kind to yourself, get support for those first weeks/months. Ask for help. When you are feeling awful, strap the baby on and go out for walks. I remember I walked the beach everyday and still try to now. It really helps to get outside if you can."

"It's usually the tidiest, as he plays elsewhere. He has lots of books, a simple bed, and a table for drawing. I need some good book storage for him, but I like that it's quite simple."

"The dog drawings by my friend Hiroshi from the RCA. The chairs I found on Craigslist. The blanket was a gift from a dear friend when he was a baby. The quilt I made for him—well, I screen-printed it and my mother-in-law made it! And I love his Kalon stump. Although it gets moved around the house a lot."

Sonny wears a Nico Nico top and Gap shorts.

"I'm a screen-printer, print-maker at heart. Commercially, I am a designer, I do textile/graphic print design."

"I grew up in a small town an hour or so north of London. I went to Goldsmiths college in London to do Textile Fine Art. From there, I won a bursary to travel to Philadelphia and be an apprentice at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, it was my first trip to the U.S. After that, I worked as a screen-print technician and teacher at the London Printworks Trust in Brixton. I met some great people, including Jonathan Saunders, who also worked there and was just starting his label, I ended up printing for him. I then wanted to go back to college and applied for the Royal College of Art in London, magically got in, and did a two-year MA in Communication Art and Design. It was tough, amazing, and I met so many inspirational people who are still great friends. I then worked at Paul Smith in London. It was a great place to work and I was so lucky to travel a lot with that job—Japan, Hong Kong, India, and Paris. It was so much fun. It was actually Paul who originally introduced me to Blake Mycoskie who had just started TOMS. When we moved to L.A., I went to see him and ended up working for TOMS. It was kind of crazy as it was at the beginning of the brand and was a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun and I met lifelong friends. We moved to San Francisco two years ago and I have been consulting at Levis for around 18 months."

"Yes, in a way, I am a lot more productive in the time I have and am very focused."

"Yes and no. I have never really had a plan or path. I feel like I am just winging it sometimes, but I have been lucky that things have worked out for me. I remember being worried after having Sonny and being ‘out’ of the workplace for 18 months. But it actually wasn’t really an issue and honestly I think I was better for it; having the break and then loving being back. I focused on my strengths and put them to use."

"Thanks to the move to S.F., I never went back to TOMS after Sonny and so essentially had 18 months off. I was ready to go back. With Marly it’s very different, I have been working a little bit since she was 4 months, only 1-2 days and mostly from home."

"Yes, totally. We have the most incredible nanny, Neide, who we share with three other families, She looks after Sonny two days a week and is like family to us. The other families we share with are good friends and we all juggle the care together. It’s a support system in itself, and Sonny has a sibling relationship with the other kids. Sonny also had some amazing caregivers, people who really supported us when we first moved here and were some of the first people I left him with, which was such a big deal for me. The community in the Sunset where we live in is wonderful, too, and we were lucky to find it. And my mum friends—I couldn’t do this without them."

"I am yet to discover the key! I’m just taking it day by day. A supportive workplace—both mine and my husband's—has been key for me. They have been so accommodating. Lots of tea helps, too. I still take Marly everywhere with me, so it’s been a challenge, but I am figuring it out."

"I was 7 months pregnant and it was my form of nesting. It was pretty symbolic. I just was worried I'd never print again. My husband went and got me a door and two sawhorses and the movers left a blanket, which I used for padding. I remember getting my screens made and buying the squeegees and ink, I was heavily pregnant and the guy thought I was a bit mad. It was so important for me, though. I don't print a lot, but just having that little space for me is magic."

"I am lucky I have had a varied career. I love being creative and have been able to apply it in so many different ways. With my personal work, I just love the printing process. I have tried other methods, but I always go back to print in some sort."

"I am slowly getting back to work again, I am enjoying it. I’d love to make more time for personal work, maybe have an exhibition soon."

"My style is pretty simple. I have tried different trends and things, but just not felt like myself. I'm usually/always in jeans, stripes, shirts, and tees."

"I think it really changed more moving from London to L.A. In London I wore a lot more black and had really short hair. When I landed in L.A. I looked like an alien. I have since grown my hair and wear less black, but I have always been a jeans and t-shirt type of girl, pretty low-maintenance."

"Levi's jeans, striped tops, a chambray shirt. Isabel Marant sneakers. Birkenstocks. My Babaa knitwear cardigan, it’s essential to have a good cardigan in S.F.! I love this climate."

"If I was still in London, I’d say Celine, but that is a different life and paycheck! Isabel Marant Etoile, I like the colors and fabrics. Levi's for jeans, vintage and new. I wore a lot of Black Crane for maternity wear. Jesse Kamm pants are on my wishlist."

"I haven't bought anything for a long time, but it's a mix of in-person and online. I still feel in a bit of a transition."

Sonny wears a Babaa sweater and Gap shorts.

"Pretty non existent. I don’t really wear makeup, but have got into face oils recently, as my skin is so dry from breastfeeding."

"I need to work on this! I have recently had some chiropractic massage, as I had some complications from Marly's birth, and it's been so beneficial. I need to get back to some kind of exercise, but haven’t found the time. I really love to swim and hope to do that again soon."

"It is such a great city to have kids, it has a little bit of everything. We love being near the coast and the mountains, it’s such a beautiful part of the world. Particularly as the kids get older we are looking forward to getting out into nature a lot more."

Amy wears Ergobaby's new ADAPT 3-position carrier, which accommodates newborns to toddlers, 7-45 lbs, with no infant insert needed.

"It's expensive here, so it’s hard to raise a family without a little stress. We think about going back to the U.K. all the time, but we have been here 6 years and would miss California so much. We loved L.A., too, and a little piece of me would love to go back. Who knows where we will end up. We are pretty open, and while the kids are young and we have energy we would go anywhere. It’s such a privilege to be able to live and work in a different country and community."

"Our absolute favorite is Outerlands, just up the street. We used to go there when we lived in the Mission, but it is great to have it just around the corner. I like to walk to Andytown Coffee, too, with Marly during the week. We are long time Tartine fanatics, so we love their space in the Mission. We also love going over the bridge to Fish or Le Garage in Sausalito. Golden Gate Park is on our doorstep, so we spend a lot of time there. And the beach, of course, we live right next to it and try to go daily. I love being by the ocean."

For more on Amy and her family, check out her website and Instagram feed.