more details on feeding, please!

my 8 month old has his two front teeth and two bottom teeth and I am still feeding him 1st stage gerber foods and rice cereal once a day, the rest of the time I feed him formula 6 oz to 8 oz, any more he throws up, if I make the cereal too thick, he chokes a bit, I guess I do not know when I should feed him more foods, how often and what combinations, I too am afraid of the finger foods, how will I know when to take him to stage two and then graduates? I've read so many posts now, that I am doing this all wrong, guess I need someone to explaine the abc's of this to me. Any advice and experience will be appreciated.

[kcs08]

I would definitely start Stage 2- is not that much thicker.  I would stop stage 1 and he should be eating 3 times a day now.  I feed my 8 month old cereal and fruit in the am, one veggie for lunch and 2 jars for dinner.  She also just started eating cheerios and banana's pieces.  Between 6am-7pm she drinks milk/breastfeeds 4-5 times a day and eats solid food 3 times/day. This was all given to me on a handout from her pediatrician...

[kcs08]

Start w/veggies that he has not tried yet.  Give the same veggie 3 days in a row to rule out allergy.  Then do fruit, then meat.  Good luck!  

p.s. it helps them prepare for finger foods-I just made mine thicker and thicker as time went on using rice cereal.