Tampon and pad issue!

So I just got my period for the first time on friday the 13th (lol) and I started off using a tampon because I was at a sports practice. I left it in for like four hours and by the end it hadn't expanded much and there was a little blood. Since then I've been using light tampons and I leave them in for about five hours at a time. When I take them out they're almost always expanded and have blood- BUT- when I use a pad (I wear them to sleep) there's almost never any blood on them in the morning? Is this normal?