god, wow. you took the words I couldn't find and said them.
if you're still around-- did it get better? it hasn't even been a year yet and that "18-month-beginning-passion" is already over, and has been, thanks to the stress of this bullshit life and our stubbornness.
Well, my only advice would be talking to him about how you feel. Unfortunately it isn't really working out in my favor at this point because my bf says "well I've dated you for over 2 years so why do I have to say I love you or compliment you, etc" but hopefully things can be different for you or for anyone else that has this issue. It's hard to keep the passion with everything else going on but maybe being able to say hey I miss this thing we used to do or that thing you used to say will make things better for you guys