"We were living in the Inner Richmond right after we got married, and heard about our current apartment through a family friend. It had more space and it was a chance to move back into my favorite neighborhood. We've been here eight years now. And I realized that except for that one year stint in the Richmond, I've lived most of my thirteen years in San Francisco within the same three-block radius in the Mission/Noe area."

Ayla wears Leitmotif pants and a Bonpoint sweater.

"There's a minimal, neutral base layer, but I was born in the tropics and I love color."

Baskets everywhere.

"I try to not bring in anything, even as a place holder, that I don't really love. Also, and this is increasingly harder with a small kid in the house, but I had a realization that the less stuff is in a room, the happier I am with it. I like to have breathing room."

Shara wears a thrifted top and Jesse Kamm pants.

"She of course has toys and books in her room, and there's an area of the living room with some different baskets for blocks and other toys. Her room doesn't get much natural light, so from the beginning I knew the living room would be used as a play space. But of course she likes being in the same room I'm in, so if I'm cooking or in the bedroom she'll literally pack up a little bag of toys and come dump it on the floor of whichever room I'm in. The idea is that they'll all get put away in the correct basket by the end of the day, but, aside from the fact that I don't always have the energy to do it/cajole her into helping me, she sort of squirrels them away. My husband Chris used to go to his teaching job at CCA, open his backpack to pull out his laptop, and find a bunch of wooden blocks Ayla had at some point put in there."

"I love the giant, two-panel painting by Roids in our living room. Our first major art purchase! I also love the big wooden table in our living room that Chris made."

Tea time.

"Watching her grow into her own person, and remembering all the things that seemed magical to me when I was little and knowing she'll have her own similar experiences. Getting to take the back seat and watching her take off in life. It's both scary and comforting to me to no longer be the center of my own universe."

"I worry about the little things all the time. Will she need braces? Will she ever willingly eat something green and leafy? But I get really nervous anytime I think about kids/teenagers and social media. It just seems like an insane amount of pressure and obsession with image. In my most sane moments, I know that if she went through her entire life with zero hardships, she wouldn't be able to grow as a person. So, even though a part of me doesn't want her to suffer ever, I know that setbacks will only help make her a more compassionate and resilient person."

"I'm half Persian, and I was pretty sure I wanted a Persian name for her when I was pregnant, but none of the names we were coming up with felt right. There was one that meant 'moonlight,' and I was researching other names with that same meaning and came across Ayla, which means moonlight in Turkish, and I fell in love with that name. Her middle name is Rafaela, after my husband's grandmother, who was born in Mexico (but is Chinese), and has been such a strong figure and presence in his family's life."

Ayla art.

A Stokke Tripp Trapp mixed with vintage and Chris' creation.

"My mother is American and my father is Iranian. They both moved to Venezuela in their early twenties and met and got married there. I would really love Ayla to be fluent in Spanish, and other than that, she is such a mix of cultures (my husband is half Chinese, a quarter Salvadorian, and a quarter German) that there isn't any one thing we try to incorporate into our home life, although she does get to celebrate three New Years—January 1st, Persian New Year, and Chinese New Year."

Shara wears a See Sun top and Jesse Kamm pants. Ayla wears a Leitmotif top and See Sun pants.

Sharing is caring.

"I think her room is still a little bit of a blank canvas. She has recently started requesting things she would like in it (like a picture of all three of us), and I'm thinking about transitioning from a crib to a bed for her, so I feel like we'll be making some changes soon. Right now, one of my favorite things is the mobile above her crib, just because I made it while I was pregnant and so it reminds me of that time. Her favorite things about her bedroom are probably her dress up drawer, and the closet, where all the fun stuff is. On one of my dad's recent visits he built some shelves into her closet to organize her books and toys, and she 'helped' him throughout that whole process, so I think she's extra happy with the results because they built it together."

"The pregnancy was fairly easy and uneventful and happened pretty quickly after we decided we were going to try for a baby."

"I would love for her to have a sibling, but we'll see."

"One day a few years ago it felt like a switch had just been turned on, and I knew it was something I wanted."

"It's made me more aware of what a big responsibility we have as parents. I'm my daughter's first teacher, and it's up to me to make sure she grows up aware of the world's problems and aware that there's a role she can play in helping to solve those problems; not an easy task for either of us! I feel so lucky to be part of an amazing preschool where they're being taught, from an early age, about the importance of their community and how helping each other means a better outcome for the whole group. And I want her to keep that mentality into adulthood."

"I really look up to my own mom. She raised me pretty much by herself and very far away from any of her family. Sometimes when I'm having a hard time with Ayla I think, 'My mom went through this same thing, but with no family back up,' and it just really hits me how hard that must have been at times. But my memories of my childhood are all so good, and I'm really grateful for that."

"I love having friends who have kids too because I know I can vent pretty freely to them. I'll text them things like, 'She's crying and refusing to draw on a piece of paper because it has a super faint pencil mark on it already,' and they get it."

Shara's handmade creation.

"I read some sleep training type of books when Ayla was first born that sent me into a total panic that I was doing everything wrong. Since then, I haven't really read any parenting books, although now that I feel a bit more sure of myself I have a few I've been meaning to read. The Gardener and the Carpenter and The Whole Brain Child are on my list."

"I don't know how I could have survived that first year (and how I would continue to survive) without my husband, my mom, my amazing family-in-law, and my friends. We also had an amazing, amazing lactation consultant after Ayla was born that was a big support, and I've learned so much about dealing with kids from watching Ayla's teachers at her co-op preschool."

"Chris is really funny and can pretty much always make me laugh. As nice as it would be to have regular date nights, I've come to really appreciate the times we can all do something together. For us, at least, it's been easy to fall into a sort of relay race pattern, where we switch off who is watching her and who is working/doing their own thing. When we go out for a walk together, or spend a day at the park, it's easier to feel in sync and on the same page. Plus, there's usually a golden window where she's occupied and we can just sit and talk."

Hallway stacks.

"Try to not have any expectations, and don't be afraid to ask for help. It's impossible to say ahead of time what your baby's needs or temperament will be. Before Ayla was born I had an image of going out to brunch with my friends while she slept peacefully in her stroller. But Ayla was not a very peaceful baby. She had a lot of trouble nursing and sleeping and I was totally unprepared for how out of whack all the hormones would make me feel and then on top of that I wasted a lot of time feeling bad about why I wasn't feeling happier."

"I design bags for my line, Lotfi. I have an amazing sewer in Oakland who handles all of the production, and my husband built my website and will often help me format any print materials. I take care of everything else, from the initial bag design to the first samples to packing and shipping the bags out to customers."

Shara wears a thrifted top and Levi's. Ayla wears a Boy + Girl jumpsuit.

"I'm in and out of the studio a lot to grab things or quickly take a look at something, but I'm really only in there to work about one morning a week. I have two to three free mornings a week between Ayla's co-op preschool and dropping her off at her grandmother's, but there's a lot of running around to the post office, to my sewer's studio in Oakland, to the dye house, etc. that happens during that time. Chris is an illustrator and also teaches illustration at CCA. We joke about this, but our schedules just don't really overlap. He's a night owl and works late into the night in the studio, and if I'm there it's usually in the early morning."

"I grew up in Venezuela, and when I was around thirteen a couple of different factors led my mom to decide we should move back to the States. We moved to Monterey, where we had some family. I went to middle school and high school there, and then to Reed College in Portland, where I got a degree in English Literature. I missed California a lot, so after college I found a job as an Editorial Assistant in San Francisco. After a few different writing-related jobs in the non-profit world, I started day dreaming about creating my own clothing line. I think I've always been drawn to creating something visual and tangible (I actually almost majored in art), and I decided to just go for it."

"Having Ayla has helped me care less about what other people think of me, although it's a work in progress. I have a hard time creating distance between what I do and who I am, so the feedback or perceived feedback to any product I put out there really affects me sometimes. But then I look at Ayla and I realize, you know, she doesn't care how many Instagram likes I have."

"I actually started the line around six years ago, but at the time it was women's clothing, mainly dresses with custom textile prints that either Chris or I designed. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided to do one last season and then take a break. I actually remember walking over to Little Paper Planes to make my last clothing delivery the same afternoon I went into labor and I ended up going to the hospital that night. When Ayla was about a year old, I was feeling really impatient to start creating again, but having the time away from it made me realize that continuing the clothing line wasn't for me. I had an idea for a bag, a plain canvas bucket bag that had pom poms on the drawstring, and emailed a photo to a friend, asking if she would help style and shoot a mini lookbook. She suggested adding a few styles, and I tried out a few different designs for a canvas circle bag, and things just sort of clicked into place."

"I'm lucky in a lot of ways that I was already working for myself, so when I decided to take a year off there wasn't the pressure of losing a steady paycheck. But at times it had me feeling a bit lost, since I wasn't sure what kind of work I would be going back to or when. When I had the idea to start making bags, I really took my time and eased back into it."

"Trying to keep a balance and trying to keep it all in perspective. Sometimes I wish I had the energy to save all my work for after she's in bed, so I can just be there for her during the day, but the reality is I would be a tired, grumpy mess if I did that. I also don't think it's bad for her to see that I have a job to do, and that there is work to be done around the house that doesn't just magically happen while she's not there, it takes someone's time and energy."

"We're very lucky to live just a few minutes away from my in-laws, who have been such a huge help and support, and until about a year ago my mom lived in Monterey and would drive up once or twice a month and stay a few days. All of Chris's siblings live in San Francisco, too, and if I'm having a busy work week they often come over to play with Ayla so I can get some work done."

"I love having an idea and seeing it come to life. My favorite part of this job is sitting and thinking about designs, about how the bags should look, how they might be used, how I could best capture them in photographs, how to improve them... I've also met so many amazing people through this job."

"I have two more years of being at home with Ayla before she starts kindergarten, in that time I want to just get better at what I do and make some things that I'm proud of. I'm trying to keep an open mind for what comes next."

"Nineties does Seventies, with the occasional misstep. I'm not sure if it's due to becoming a mother or just getting older, but I feel like I have a better sense of what suits me and what I'll actually wear. I used to buy more dresses, but they tended to just sit in the closet."

"I have acquired a lot of white pants at this point, mostly thrifted, that I rotate and wear a lot. So, white pants, a black t-shirt, and a circle bag."

"I tend to gravitate towards brands run by one person or by a small team. I know how much work goes into the products they put out into the world, so I like supporting them. I'm not sure whether this is a by-product of the social media age, but I feel like I also get imaged out. Seeing tons and tons of products makes me a little tired. I like the idea of people specializing in things and having a favorite brand for pants, a favorite brand for shoes, etc. Some favorite brands are: Waltz Studio, Another Feather, Micaela Greg, Jesse Kamm, Martiniano, Caron Callahan, LOQ, Calder Blake, Monogram..."

"Aside from the very occasional special purchase in person at Anaise, I've been mostly shopping in thrift shops. For Ayla I mostly shop online, although again I try to buy secondhand as much as I can."

"Moisturizer and sunscreen everyday. RMS beauty un-coverup, Glossier Boy Brow, and Josie Maran lip marker when I'm feeling fancy."

"I don't have a wellness routine! I'm working on it!"

"I feel like my time away from Ayla is pretty limited, so I feel a lot of pressure to just work during all my free hours. But something as easy as taking a walk by myself can make such a difference in my mood, so I'm trying to find more time to do that. A walk by myself, a coffee by myself, and some time to browse in a bookstore by myself is pretty much my idea of heaven."

"San Francisco is such a beautiful city. I'm happy she gets to grow up so close to the ocean, with so many beautiful parks and open spaces to run around in. I'm excited to take her to her first sing-a-long at the Castro, and to her first ballet. I also love that she has such strong ties here and such a diverse, extended family."

"It's not out of the question, but my husband's entire extended family is in San Francisco, so we have pretty strong ties to here...and lots of available babysitters!"

"We mostly eat at home these days, but if we do go out we tend to stick to the same neighborhood spots: Arizmendi, Barzotto, and La Taqueria are a few of the places we go to a lot. Dandelion Chocolate has the best desserts. We'll usually go to parks closer to us, but sometimes if we want a treat we'll go to Dynamo Doughnuts and then to the park that's just across the street. When I can, I like to go to the Kabuki spa to use the baths."

For more on Shara, her business, and her family, check out her site and her Instagram feed.

Check out our behind-the-scenes video of this shoot right here.