Figuring out the new camera.......slowly....

I bought a new camera before Tristan was born, thinking it would come in PLENTY of time for me to learn to use it before the baby came. Tristan came the 2nd, the camera the 4th :-p
I'm just now starting to figure it out, so far I've been disappointed by the quality of the images. I have come to the conclusion that the 'auto' feature just doesn't do a good job and you need to use the more complicated manual features to get good shots. I am learning what all the buttons and numbers mean and I am getting there with the quality of the images.