Developing a comprehensive model of the early universe that describes events and conditions prior to recombination has proved difficult. Using a new approach, we express Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in terms of measures and counts of those measures to resolve an expression consisting entirely of counts. The description allows us to resolve explicit values for discrete measures. With these values, we present new expressions describing the earliest epoch and the transition event that initiates expansion. We determine the quantity, age, density, and temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Moreover, we approach the CMB power spectrum anew, describing each mass/energy distribution, its physical significance, its peak temperature, and the effects of relativity. We do not engage in fitting or modification of the existing laws of physics. The approach is classical and correlates both quantum and cosmological phenomena with descriptive expressions that are measurable, verifiable, and falsifiable.