I have been with my boyfriend for 2.5 years. We currently live in a home together with my 2 children from previous relationships. Most of the time, things are great and we have a lot of fun together. We have a lot of shared interests and our personalities are similar. However, we fight a lot. And when we fight, it gets bad. There's a lot of resentment and bitterness and the past gets brought up frequently. Most recently, I have been ill with a really bad flu. I hadn't been sleeping much and had been awoke by the dogs for the second night in a row in the middle of the night. The second night this happened, I got angry and vented my frustrations to him. He in turn brought up a situation from almost 2 years ago where I was "talking about him behind his back to a friend" (I believe this is normal - venting to friend - and he believes it's disloyal. Since then, I don't vent to anyone about him anymore). He kept pushing it and pushing it - Saying the same thing over and over every minute or so while I was sick trying to sleep until I finally just couldn't take it and elbowed him. I know that is not right. He then threatened to call the police and have me removed from my house with a restraining order (mind you my child was there). I apologized and admitted I was wrong and tried to move beyond it, but he continued to be mean to me. The next morning, he tried to say sorry to me and make up, but it was always followed by mean words and bringing up the past. He called me a *****, said I'm a low person, said I'm a mean person and everyone knows it, said I'm an awful person, and I have no class. Keep in mind I have the flu. The reason I was venting to that friend in the first place is because he was on dating websites while we were exclusively dating - which he still has not admitted to. He also ended up getting a ride home from his ex who "destroyed his life" one night when he was drunk. He came back home because I found him and then slapped me about 10 times, laughing each time. He maintains that I am lying about that. He has slapped me sober as well. In fact the other night was the ONLY time I have slapped him without him slapping me back. There have been times I have very playfully smacked him and he's hit me back hard. I guess I don't know what to do. I have a lot invested in the relationship. I feel like I would be destroying my children's lives if I were to leave. We live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood and town. And like I said, most of the time when we are not fighting things are good. Can someone help me?