A tiny update

If you saw our expert’s guide to living in a tiny house, you’re no doubt curious how things actually went when Lindsay and Jared Knight brought home their twins. You’re not alone. The proofs of this magazine were regularly peppered with notes from our staff like, “This is their first baby, right?” or “I give them six months.”

The Knights welcomed twin girls Sawyer and Landry on March 20.

Lindsay and Jared are tired. They’re adapting to the sometimes terrifying task of keeping two human beings alive. Their thoroughly researched and carefully chosen rock-and-plays were squarely rejected by the girls. Mom and dad are learning to avoid that once-charming, now ear-shattering creak in the top stair, lest they wake an infant they just got to sleep.

In other words, they’re new parents.

Sure, some things are different in a tiny house. After Lindsay’s C-section, navigating the steep and narrow stairs to their loft bedroom simply wasn’t possible. They spent 11 days at Jared’s parents’ house while she recovered.

Their tightly curated list of baby gear has evolved. They’ve realized they don’t need two of certain things. Some items that they skipped on first pass to save premium counter space are now crucial time savers — like the drying rack that keeps their six bottles in constant rotation. The twins also have reflux so the baby boxes were set aside in exchange for inclined sleepers.

When friends come by with toddlers, Lindsay and Jared sometimes wonder whether their tiny house will still work when the girls are more active. “Long-term, when they’re a little more grown up and walking around and getting into everything, it may not be as sustainable,” Jared says. “But for now, it’s a good option.”

Living in a tiny house with tiny humans wasn’t an unexpected situation for the Knights. They found out a few years ago that they couldn’t have children unless they used in vitro fertilization. Down-sizing was part of the master plan to afford the procedure. It’s also how Lindsay and Jared plan to spend so much time at home during the twins’ early months and years. To them, that out-measures any amount of square-footage.

As Lindsay wrote on their blog, “For every moment in the last 6 weeks that I have thought, ‘It would be so much easier to be in a bigger space and have more bottles (or any other baby product for that matter) so I don’t have to wash another one now,’ I have immediately followed that thought with, ‘If we were in a bigger space with a mortgage and spending tons of money on all those extra baby products, then we both wouldn’t get to be here right now with our daughters.’ And even though we both won’t get to stay home with them forever, the ability to do it now has made me infinitely thankful for the flexibility that tiny living has given us.”