Questions about Solids

So now that my big boy will be six months old tomorrow, it is time for him to start eating solids and honestly, I have mixed feelings.  I am a little bit sad that he is getting so big and find myself with a lot of questions and a little bit of stress. The stress comes in because I am not sure how it will affect my supply.

We started giving him rice cereal earlier last month because everything I read said that he was ready; he had doubled his birth weight, could hold his head up, for the most part he had lost the tongue thrust reflex, so we decided to give it a try. 

The first time he struggled a bit but it made for some great pictures.  The next couple of times he really got the hang of it. But then the more I read, the more I felt like I needed to wait until he was six months old, mainly because of the breastfeeding benefits.  From what I understand, there really is no benefit to starting them earlier and that really the only reason to start feeding them solids is to get them use to eating with a spoon.  They could be breastfed and get all the nutrition that they need just from this alone for the first year (not that I would do that). Basically, I didn't want to fill him up on rice cereal, which is pretty nutritionally dense, making him less hungry for the good stuff. So, we stopped feeding him cereal but now one month older, it is time to start again.

I am turning to the moms to answer my questions.  Rice cereal once a day and a vegetable? Cereal twice a day, no vegetable? Vegetables first over fruits? Is it OK to mix the cereal with water? I hate to use breast milk when everything I pump is for the next day.  I can always pull out some frozen, but am curious what others have done. Juice? There is apparently a lot of controversy over juice.  What about water?  Do they even need anything else to drink besides breast milk this young? When should you start giving them a cup?

Let me tell you based on what I have read what I am thinking.  For now, I am thinking of doing rice cereal at night after I feed him.  Once he gets the hang of that, two weeks maybe, we would up it to twice a day and add cereal after a morning feeding. Then maybe at seven months, start vegetables at one feeding, up it to two feedings and then start with fruits. I have heard to start with vegetables first because if you start with sweeter tasting fruits, he won't eat the vegetables, which is also what I have heard about juice.  What have been your experiences?