We've been in our house for over a year now and my lawn has really
gotten pretty terrible. Of course never having to take care of a lawn
before is now showing. I haven't really done anything since we moved
in, which is probably the biggest problem. The front lawn is in the
worst shape with some small bare patches throughout. I've been doing
some reading up, but I'm still pretty confused. I'm pretty sure I need
to aerate the lawn. Like almost all the homes in this area of Northern
Illinois, it was built on farmland and the soil has a lot of clay and
I'm sure it's compacted. In addition I know I need to fertilize and I'd
like to get the bare patches taken care of. Any thoughts on what I need
to do in what order to not kill my lawn?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Adam