Hey guys and gals..Posting with a throwaway and really just seeking some reassurance and advice.

I have an ldr with my boyfriend of nearly 2 years. I'm working on moving back to our home country and we have talked heaps about marriage, children, etc.

When I first met him we actually met via reddit. Then I went on vacation to our home country and he flew from his state to mine to meet me. I didn't realise he considered me his girlfriend until I saw a post he made about it on reddit. This should have clued me in from the start that he's more comfortable expressing his affection for me to strangers online than to me.

Anyhow I'm a really affectionate person and very verbal and expressive with my love and he's not. I realise the ways he does show me his love, but sometimes, especially considering the distance, I really need my captain to tell me how he feels. I want him to make me feel beautiful and precious to him. I've broached the subject with him once or twice and he's so awkward about it and I hate bringing it up cause I don't want to come across as needy. I've told him affection is important to me. He's told me he'd step up his game and for a little bit would call me babe and baby and then it would stop again. It's a big deal to me that he did make an effort.

He shares photos with me throughout the day, and is pretty prompt in terms of responding to messages etc.

I know he's serious about me. Unfortunately because I feel such a lack of affection being communicated to me I'm embarrassed to admit but I spy on his accounts to get an idea of his thoughts about our relationship. I LOATHE that I feel the need to do this, it is something that I'm deeply ashamed of. But he tells others about how he's going to marry me in a year or two, and the next plan is to have kids. Then of course this is a double edged sword cause then he also said he wished he had a high school sweetheart cause he'd have a family by now. I see good stuff and it makes me happy and then I see stuff like that and it bums me out. My mom tells me to stop taking every little thing he says so seriously and that obviously he loves me if he's waiting for me and planning on proposing.

I loathe that I feel so insecure. I was cheated on in a 6 year relationship so I think some of that trauma has stuck with me and I feel like I need alot of reassurance, but i hate that! Add to the mix that it's an ldr for now and I feel lonesome and it's a recipe for major suckage.

I send him sexy photos and videos and do everything I can to meet his needs the best I can for now. And obviously with men I don't want to nag him, but how do I get him to be more verbally affectionate with me? What can I do as a woman to make him feel comfortable with being loving with me?

I would appreciate any and all advice.