Thanks, everyone.
Ha ha, Bill, I do the email thing, and it does usually work.
I doubt he would read the book, though. *grumble...*
Bluebelle, that is such a good point about focusing on positive things instead of criticizing.
Thanks to my ACA issues, doing that is like trying to pull out my own fingernails, but I'm working on it.
It helps to be reminded by people (like you, and others on the forum) who have an objective standpoint.
What I figured out earlier, after starting this thread, is that obviously living in this apartment and feeling cramped and uncomfortable, with no real space of his own (he likes to have a workshop of some sort, a garage, where he can work on whatever projects he has, etc...that's a new one for me, as I've never been in a relationship with a guy who is into "manly man" activities).
I figured that, as he is obviously *really* distressed about our living arrangement (we have a lot of our extra stuff stored at his brother's house, or in the bedroom we were going to use as our son's room but ended up being an extra storage space out of necessity), I might as well acknowledge his needs as much as I would like for my own needs to be acknowledged.
I'm not opposed to buying a house, but I'm cautious about it. We do honestly need a house, not an apartment, and renting in this area is insanely expensive. It's literally cheaper to buy a home than it is to rent one.
So I agreed to go look at houses with him next weekend, provided that is the only major stressful event taking place that weekend (looking for houses is really stressful for me, as my husband just wants to GO GO GO, and it involves a lot of driving, etc., so I'm always drained after a day of doing it).
The last two weekends were all about having his family over a lot, looking at houses, and then letting him recuperate by zoning out on TV and the internet, so I didn't get much time for myself.
This weekend my dad is supposed to be visiting (we'll see if that happens), and my birthday is on the last weekend of this month, so we'll either be going to see my mom or she'll be coming over to visit, etc.
All of these things are major trigger issues for me, and as I am only willing to deal with so much stress in one period of time, I try to work within my limits.
I wanted to have one weekend in between all of this stuff to just sort of do my work around the house and have some R&R time, but I guess it's not too much to ask for me to take one of those days to help him cope with how he's feeling.
So. I offered a compromise, and let him know that I wanted to validate how he is feeling, and things are happier for the time being.
I think that, with this particular issue, just looking at houses makes him feel a little less crazy about living in such a small space.
Thanks again, all of you, for being here and for your awesome feedback.
