That's exactly my standard setup: 7D + 17-55 f/2.8. Most of my pictures are of the kids so I think I qualify to the "for what I want to use it for". What I can tell you is that I wouldn't want anything else for that range: It's sharp, it's IS* and f/2.8 allows you to have pretty nice background separation at 55mm at least. Let me try to find out a couple of pictures where the kids were babies and that are worth showing.

*IS doesn't prevent the kids from moving but I still think it helps when they happen to be steady.