Hi everyone. I (27F) started dating my boyfriend (29M) in April of this year, became official in June. I waited until we were official to be intimate, it was my first time (yes, really) and also my first relationship. Since the beginning, he was doing things right. He pursued me consistently and seemed very interested and attracted in me. We were both living in a third country to both are home countries, I have settled here but he was there for a few months (he has reason to be here because of his work).

Since around June it has been semi-LDR, usually about 2 weeks of not seeing each other and 1 week of meeting, with the longest being over 3 weeks of not seeing each other. I find him a great guy and he has always pursued me seriously and initiated all the relationship conversations. He pays for the dates and in August he also paid for my trip to his home country. I met his family. He has a very demanding work (entrepreneur) and hardly had time to date, but he said I was the only girl he wanted to put effort for.

However, I've always had an issue with some things from him: 1) Communication. He is kinda shy and we were never big texters. Communication also doesn't flow that much in person after the first months of getting to know talk; although sometimes we have really good dates because I make a lot of effort. 2) He is a bit thoughtless and I would say "simple". I usually like a man like that, but he forgets stuff I've told him before, said my eyes were brown when they are super green, almost forgot my birthday coincided with our trip, etc.

Lately, I have felt communication drop even more. When we were apart from a month, he would check in every night and be more into talking with me. Lately, I feel he checks in more as a chore and doesn't acknowledge my efforts to talk as much. Less affectionate and attentive (he uses emojis a lot, not so much anymore). I don't know if this is in my head, relationship settling in, PMS... I used to be super secure but the relationship and distance is testing me. I feel insecure and cry about some of it quite often.

Some extra context from the relationship: - He is looking now to rent an apartment in the city we live in. Obviously I'm a factor but he also has work here. - He asked me to go to his country again for NYE. He was planning with some friends, but did say I'm the "priority". - He is a good man. From the country side, family guy, likable, introverted, good demanding job building his company, attractive to me. He is also kinda unhealthy (lots of beer, not a lot of time to go to the gym...). He said his love language was acts of service and I think he does it, but to me is difficult to tell.

My goal is marriage and family. But sometimes I think we maybe have some cultural differences and not the tools to deal with it. I think there's some signs of commitment but I feel some diminished interest? I wanted to take a break to evaluate if I can actually be in a relationship with someone this stable but less... romantic? I would say.

Any advice is very welcomed!

EDIT: Another piece here is that I'm more classically attractive than him (just being honest) and he used to be in awe of "getting me". I think the settling part of the relationship might feel like me being taken for granted, or that he is only with me because I'm the hottest he's going to get? I think he likes me outside of that but him being my first also muddles my feelings...