Mystia,

That's what we're all here for! To listen to eachother and try to help.

He did initiate last night, but he didn't stop until I was satisfied. However, this weighed heavily on my mind because he did not receive the same satisfaction. The other night, he had a pillow over his head because he didn't like the noise that was being made, this hurt me as being critical when I was trying to do something for him. We went no further that night.
I'm not clear on this. He initiated, and didn't stop until you were satisfied. In the process, he put a pillow over his head so he didn't hear "the noise"? By noise, are you referring to pleasure sounds you were making? Are you referring to the natural sounds of your body? If it is, then that seems a bit cruel on his part. Were you over-exaggerating to make him feel manly? Did you stop it from going any further of did he stop? Was he turned off?

I want to believe that it's just a hard time financially and work-related that we'll get past.
Have you discussed this with him? It's best to let him know how you're feeling rather than keep hoping to yourself that this will just go away.

I'm very guilty of temperature checks in our relationship and one big way I do it is to start talking about this house we've both agreed we would like to purchase after we get our credit back up again.
There's nothing wrong with checking the temperature of your relationship. It's healthy and it shows that you care. However, I think this isn't the best way to check given your current circumstances. He could take it as pressure. Try to focus more on the present and very near future - like your next date for instance!

Pam

Pam