No, you do not continue to be inside Thailand when you leave.
You start counting again as day of arrival as day number 1 and count towards 75 days to get into the period of reporting that you are almost 90 days consecutive inside Thailand.
The law is written in 1979 and in that time not each and every province had one or more Immigration Offices and therefor was the clause if there is NO office in your province you can do at local police station. BUT we are now in 2022 and in each and every province is an Immigration Office and it can be done on-line. USE the correct way to report your address, it is not much more difficult than posting your life story on Facebook.
You have to ask your local Immigration Office if you still can apply for a conversion of an old and invalid tourist visa into the Non Immigrant O visa for yourself and your wife.
Normally the Non Immigrant O visa based on being dependent on a foreigner with a long stay inside Thailand can not be issued as the partner is applying for a new visa and does not have a long stay.