Silence, Please

Being 7 months pregnant, having three kids 5 and under (the oldest of whom has more than her share to say on any topic; which gets repeated in gradually more condensed forms by her younger siblings immediately after she's said it), and Matt much involved with work and youth ministry, my tolerance for noise goes waaaayyyyy down by about 4 pm. You know the joke about the noisy oyster? ("What noise annoys a noisey oyster? A noisy noise annoys a noisy oyster.)" That's me. My noise is the frequent loud requests to "please stop talking or making noises."
Just this week (in the last 3 days, actually) I've resorted to my methods of regaining sanity through silence. I don't know whether to call these confessions or brags, but they sure work well for me. I will note that Matt is home, usually on the computer, when I do these, so the kids aren't completely unattended. :)
1) Retreat to the hall bathroom, lock the door, keep the light off, and shut my ears. There seems to be something so much quieter about the dark. And Felicity and Micah are too scared of the dark hall to venture down it looking for me. Having the bathroom light on shining under the door would give my location away anyway. It's a little bit funny hearing them look for me and loudly asking "where's Mama?"
2) Dash upstairs with a quick message to Matt of "I'm going upstairs for some quiet." Into the bedroom, shoes off, I lay on the bed and put in earplugs. These are great. I can be ALONE! (as long as the door is locked) for 10-20 minutes without requests to meet needs. I've taken my supper up there before but eating with earplugs in is very loud. Usually I just read or sit. When I come back downstairs Matt smiles and asks, "Feel better now?" And yes, sweety, I do.
3) Slip outside to park the van under the carport after Matt got home last night from being gone for 6 hours. I learned this trick from him. He usually does it after church while I'm inside getting kids undressed, or am starting the cooking. I'll look around and realize he's not come in yet and after checking outside I see him in the van, listening to the radio. Cheater. :) Well, last night I'd had all the noise I could take, so I parked the van , turned it off and just sat. It took the kids 10 minutes before they looked outside for me. I could see them come out on the porch and hear Camie yell "Mama! Where are you?" (Then repeated by Micah). They couldn't see me with the van lights off, so they went back in. A few minutes later Matt stuck his head out the door and I flashed the headlights on and back off to let him know where I was. He turned the porch lights off and went back in. Ahh. What a man. And THEN, he came outside with the Valentine's Day treats he'd gotten me (candy bars and Donut holes) along with a glass of milk. I opened the van door and asked "Yessss?" When he asked what I was doing I joyfully answered "Ab-so-lute-ly nothing." He was surprised I wasn't even listening to the radio, but I explained that would've defeated the purpose. I was there for the quiet. He left me my treats and went back in to 3 noisy kids. And so I had 27 minutes of quiet. It was glorious. :)
Speaking of quiet (that sounds like an oxi-moron) all three kids are down for naps, and here I sit when I could be napping. Matt took the youth group to Winter Jam, a Christian Rock concert in Mobile. Very un-silent. He's a good man, is he not?