Eeek so much to read! I apologise for only skimming.
They do sell those mesh feeders in BigW, they're about $6. Noah's got one but prefers to suck on the handle lol.
As for the finger food, Noah gets quite a bit. I give him "soldiers" of toast, normally with a smear of cream cheese, vegemite (not a fan) or avocado on it. I also give him cheerios (they disolve when he sucks on them), cheese sticks (broken into little pieces and smooshed up a bit), and when I'm being "bad mummy" a wafer biscuit (he LOVES them but they end up EVERYWHERE!).
I had an absolute idiot moment yesterday! Was sterilising some dummies in a pot on the stove, and completely forgot about them! They boiled dry and ruined the pot and stunk up the entire house! Well done Lauren!