Does this count as four years?

I always say that I have been in a relationship with my loving boyfriend for over four years. However, a friend of mine reminded me that he and his girlfriend have been together for nearly four years without any type of breaks. Normally this would seem harmless, but knowing him this was a side attack at the integrity of my relationship. Here’s why:

So while my boyfriend and I have been together for over four years, it is not what I guess would be “official”. After the first 8 months of our relationship, we went through some serious personal issues (I was kicked out of school, dealing with the harshness of my family, he was going through a very rigorous and mentally exhausting private ordeal of his own). During that time, we argued a lot and subsequently went on a “break”. During this period, we were not referring to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend yet we saw each other nearly every day, still went out together, didn’t date any other people, texted plenty, still had sex, and still celebrated birthdays and holidays with each other. We were still on break, but essentially we did every thing a couple would do minus a title. We were still exclusive. After 4 months of this being on break, we got back together. Four more months passed and once again we went through a rough patch. Again, he wanted a break. This time, the break lasted 10 months, however, we again were exclusive and did couple like things with each other. There was no title, there was no “facebook official”. After that ten month period, he did this huge thing and we got back together. We have not gone on any type of break since and have been better than ever.

We always claim that we have been together for over 4 years because during those periods we still did couple things and were still exclusive. Does that not matter? Is it wrong for us to say we have been together for that long?