You can't really judge a beer while it is still fermenting. The process is ugly and stinky and sometimes even tastes crappy...when everything is fine.
Your beer actually has a long journey to go from grain to glass and it one where there are a bunch of chemical processes happening, including nasty smells being given off initially (by products of fermentation) which if you give them ample time, the yeast will go back and clean up. Then you have carbonation and along with that MORE CLEANUP called bottle conditioning.
At the end, if you have patience, you will have great beer. It's almost magical, IF YOU LEAVE THE BEER ALONE.
First thing, ignore the instructions that say to rack to secondary or to bottle after a week, they're full of ****, most beers aren't ready in the timeframe, and your taking it off the yeast too soon can cause more harm than good, by preventing those yeast from doing their job.
You need to decide if you want to use a secondary or go long primary, either way your beer needs to sit undisturbed for a month. If you choose to secondary on day 12 after the day you pitched yeast take a hydro reading....it doesn't matter what the initial gravity was, just what it is now. Then on day 14 take another one, if the numbers are the same, go ahead and rack it.
ANd leave it for about 2 weeks.
If you opt for a long primary, which is growing more in favor over needless racking to secondary, then it's simple, walk away for a month, then bottle, and then leave the beer in a warm place (above 70) for a mnimum of 3 weeks gain.
Your beer will be awesome then. It will be carbed and amply conditioned.
Now as to initial gravity readings, if you fail to take one, don't sweat it, if you are doing an extract batch, what the gravity says in your recipe (or if you imput it in any software) it will match. Extract brewing is almost foolproof because the brewer isn't converting the starches to sugar himself, it's already done before you get the kit, so the numbers are already known, and if you've ended up topping off to the volume your recipe calls for (usually 5 or 5.5 gallons) then you've automatically hit your numbers.
Bottom line, this is a hobby about waiting. If you let the yeast do their thing, you're amply rewarded with great beer, if you don't, the beer's often not so great.
I know waiting is a hard thing to do, but it's worth it. One way to mitigate it is to buy another fermentaer (I have 9) and brew another batch, that way you start having beers at different stages of the process. You'll know that as one is being drunk or is fermenting, that you have another one just down the line...we call it having a pipeline.
And if you have multiple batches going, you'll be less tempted to futz or even worry about your beer.
Good luck and relax, it's really hard to screw this up.